Althouse: Today, July 1st. What we saw.

July 1, 2014

Today, July 1st. What we saw.

25 comments:

Phil 314 said...: looks like Colorado; 7/1/14, 10:48 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Looks like four corners.; 7/1/14, 10:52 PM
Rob said...: Boulder again? CU looking for law profs?; 7/1/14, 10:58 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I could be wrong, but looks like Boulder again.

Another road trip?; 7/1/14, 11:19 PM
YoungHegelian said...: What a great beetle!; 7/1/14, 11:22 PM
gadfly said...: Trees too green to be the diseased lodge pole pine in Colorado high country - so maybe Idaho.; 7/1/14, 11:37 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: You should have a John Denver soundtrack playing in the background.; 7/2/14, 4:16 AM
campy said...: Global warming's had quite an effect on Wisconsin.; 7/2/14, 6:03 AM
Rusty said...: Some trees. A bug. Two flowers and some rocks. Livin on the edge there Althouse.; 7/2/14, 7:25 AM
David said...: That beetle is a feature not a bug. Fabulous.; 7/2/14, 7:33 AM
Tank said...: Texas Hill Country?; 7/2/14, 7:37 AM
Meade said...: "You should have a John Denver soundtrack playing in the background."

Like "Berkeley Woman"?; 7/2/14, 8:19 AM
lemondog said...: What are the rock buildup....monument, burial?; 7/2/14, 8:23 AM
Anonymous said...: Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy says:

Althouse has surely missed the point on this one. These photos are what the camera saw: she saw the back of the camera. If Althouse gets small details such as these wrong how are we to trust her thinking on more complex issues?; 7/2/14, 8:27 AM
Anonymous said...: Every time Althouse posts these photos from far-away forlorn places I'm assuming she and Meade went there to bury a body.; 7/2/14, 8:27 AM
Anonymous said...: I think I am seeing the groundwork for my next Earth-shaking Althouse Theory.; 7/2/14, 8:30 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: We'll be in Colorado next month on our two lane drive to California. Staying at Strawberry Park Hot Springs in Steamboat Springs. AWESOME place. Check out the view from their home page. We have one of the little cabins there...
http://strawberryhotsprings.com/; 7/2/14, 8:41 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: @Meade - Wasn't my first choice but ya' know, it works.; 7/2/14, 8:45 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: Every time Althouse posts these photos from far-away forlorn places I'm assuming she and Meade went there to bury a body.

Working toward a future without comment moderation.; 7/2/14, 8:56 AM
PackerBronco said...: welcome to Boulder Anne!

I think I was cycling to the top of NCAR about the same time you took that photo.; 7/2/14, 9:39 AM
Joe Schmoe said...: Nice butte!; 7/2/14, 10:13 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Trees too green to be the diseased lodge pole pine in Colorado high country - so maybe Idaho.

Different trees at different elevations. I am right now sitting up at 9k, and, yes, a lot of the Lodgepole are pretty bad - actually, most of the ones real close are fine because the bad ones have been taken out already. The other thing to keep in mind about the Lodgepole is that it is the result of a beetle infestation, and that means that it moves relatively slowly. Its not like all of a sudden, all the trees are now dying. You can see it move, year by year.

Continuing though - Lodgepole don't grow that low, at least in Colorado. We are probably talking 6k to maybe at the most 7k in elevation. 7k is prime Ponderosa Pine elevation, but you also have a lot of Douglas Fir and (Colorado) Blue Spruce (which those trees definitely are not). Without getting closer, I am thinking primarily Douglas Fir. Elevation of NCAR's Mesa Lab there is apparently 6109 feet (alternately 1885 meters (6184 feet)).

Finally, Ponderosa Pine do get beetle kill - fighting it right now at the place owned by my significant other in NW MT, at about 2,500 feet. I have been cutting off limbs and even cutting down small trees, that are dying from it, for a couple of years. She is maybe 100 miles to the Canadian border (by air), and I find it interesting how prime Ponderosa range has dropped from maybe 7,500 to 2,500 feet when moving that far north.; 7/2/14, 1:26 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Oh, I forgot to note that the one nice thing that may ultimately result from all those Lodgepole pine dying is that a lot of glade skiing may open up at the ski areas and in the back country. And, ultimately, the dead zones will likely fill up with Aspen trees, which do add beauty, esp. in the fall. We don't have nearly the same amount of Aspens as do Aspen and Vail, here right by the Continental Divide - yet, but may ultimately catch up.; 7/2/14, 1:29 PM
jimbino said...: Someone needs to introduce a destructive beetle into Oregon forests so that the lumberjacks can get back to work.; 7/2/14, 6:31 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Someone needs to introduce a destructive beetle into Oregon forests so that the lumberjacks can get back to work.

Took several years before the Forest Service actually allowed the cutting of the dead and dying trees, which may have ultimately made the problem worse in the central Colorado Rockies, where I am right now. Don't know how the beetles jumped the Continental Divide (we are talking 12+k feet or so here), but they clearly did a couple of years ago.

BTW - my memory from a couple years ago is that beetle kill is also visible in the northern Colorado Rockies, notably Rocky Mtn. National Park.; 7/2/14, 7:51 PM