Sorry for the radio silence. I was busy, blah blah blah. I spent the weekend in the mountains for my sister-in-law’s bachelorette party. We did manage to hike between consuming gallons of wine and an endless stream of chick-flicks.
Hiking up there was bittersweet, since it’s my old home. I know it so well, but there are a lot of memories linked to it. And it’s weird being back yet not being a local, anymore. It used to be that I couldn’t go on a hike, to the grocery store, or to a bar without knowing most of the people I’d run across. Yet I saw exactly one familiar face this whole weekend. That’s just the way in a community as transient as that place. I mean, I moved on, too. But it still made me nostalgic.
And the face of the actual flora is changing, too. Pine beetles are eating their way through the entire landscape. If you see red trees in the following pictures, it’s the pine beetles. It’s still beautiful:
But it will be a very different view in just a few years.
Not that it won’t still be beautiful. There will still be tons of wildflowers. (That’s a bee butt hanging out of that particular flower.)
And fauna. Such as beavers. Who are getting a little giddy from all the available timber these days.
And there will still be lakes, and camera-happy tourists. Here is a picture of me failing to outrun the timer on my camera. I am distinctly Not Fast.
And now I’m back home, working too much and missing the mountains, again.
5 comments:
The pine beetle situation is sad to see, but eventually nature will correct. I imagine a fire much like Yellowstone's will give new birth to the Colorado forests. In the meantime, you're right, flowers and lakes and grasses will all still exist :)
you're right - pine beetle not withstanding, it's a beautiful place. We have a blight here that's doing some of our trees in and the outlook for the future of sugar maples is not good. The three months I spent in Fort Collins, CO had me yearning for the deep New England woods. I'm more at home here.
laughing at you failing to outrun the timer.
Wonder if the pine beetles are any faster.
Beautiful photos, and what ramblin'red said.
As I said before: Nature is pretty in pictures, icky for reals. Bugs freak me out A LOT, so until they make nature without bugs, I'm good inside.
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