Colorado Nature Narratives

This summer, my husband and I took our traditional July hike on one of our favorite trails south of Creede, Colorado. As we hiked the familiar Ivy Creek Trail, we saw many fir and pine trees that were dead, and many that had been cut and pushed off the trail. Then, after hiking 3 miles, our way was blocked. Blocked by fallen trees that looked like giant toothpicks interlocked in a chaotic jumble.

Ivy Creek and dying forest

This summer, the forests near Creede were noticeably changing. From a distance, the evergreen forest had a reddish tinge, the first obvious sign that trees are dying from the Mountain Pine Beetle infestation. Some forest landscapes were totally gray, indicating that the needles, hence the trees, were already dead. All the infected trees will eventually die, lose their needles, and then fall over. The San Juan Mountains are now experiencing the outbreak of diseased trees that other areas of Colorado, including Summit County and Steamboat Springs, have been dealing with for almost a decade.

It is difficult for me to see breathtaking Colorado mountain views now marred by dying forests. But that’s the reality. Eventually, the evergreen forests will regenerate as sun-loving aspen trees will flourish and then provide a microclimate where spruce, fir and pines will thrive again.

So, our hike was bittersweet, and I didn’t even want to write about it for awhile. We saw such beauty on the shady path – shade-loving wildflowers of Red Columbine and light blue Jacob’s Ladder growing along the creek. Will they be there when their shade is gone?

Red Columbine

Jacob's Ladder

Photo Credit: All three photos by Les Goss

Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park earlier this week, my friends and I got an early start to beat the afternoon heat and possible thunderstorms. Beginning our hike at 9400 feet at Bear Lake Trailhead, we followed the forested trail up and over a glacial moraine on our way to Lake Helene. We also traversed wildflower meadows where white “cottonballs” of Bistort flowers and Purple Asters danced in the wind. As we approached the subalpine forest at 10,500 feet, the trail crossed very rocky terrain (a scree slope) that seemed bare of wildflowers. But it wasn’t. Somehow, the most beautiful Colorado Blue Columbines had found enough soil to take root and grow toward the bright sunshine. When I returned from my hike, I was eager to read Ann Zwinger’s description of the Colorado Columbine in her book, my favorite, Beyond the Aspen Grove:

The blooms seem suspended above the green leaves like tiny birds, and tremble in the slightest breeze. Their lavender is the depth of aspen shadow, their yellow that of the first sunlight.

Colorado Blue Columbine, July 27, 2010

The lovely Columbine is Colorado’s state flower. It was chosen not only for its beauty, but also for the symbolism of its colors. The blue and white blossom symbolizes Colorado’s blue skies and white snow. The word “Columbine” comes from the Latin word “columba” which means “dove” as the flower’s white petals resemble the wings of a dove.

Photo Credit: Melissa Walker

Visitors to Colorado Springs may be surprised to see new snow on Pikes Peak in July, but longtime residents know that it may snow on our “Fourteener” any day of the year. Still, there is an element of surprise when afternoon rain clouds clear, revealing new snow on the Peak. Such was the case yesterday, July 8.

New Snow on Pikes Peak - July 8, 2010

It doesn’t seem that summer snows and freezing temperatures would be compatible with wildflowers. Yet, many species of wildflowers thrive above 10,500′ in the subalpine and alpine elevations of Pikes Peak. Every summer, I journey to Elk Park on the north slope of the Peak to seek out the beautiful bright flowers. Especially adapted to high altitudes, these hardy perennial plants bloom and form seeds quickly during their short growing season. Sometimes, I will find “bouquets” of wildflowers nestled against the pink granite rocks that provide some shelter from the wind and intense sunlight. This is where I found two of my favorite subalpine wildflowers, the purple Dusky Penstamon and blue Chiming Bells.

Dusky Penstamon and Chiming Bells

The Alpine Sunflower is so bright and showy that it is easy to find. Its large 3″ blossom tops its short stem, making it look top-heavy. The plant’s stem and leaves are covered with wooly-looking hairs that have led to the wildflower’s nickname “Old Man of the Mountains.” The white hairs serve as insulation, an adaptation that helps protect the sunflower from the frosts, summer snows and drying winds of the subalpine and alpine climate. The “Old Man of the Mountains” flowers always face the rising sun, receiving the sun’s warming rays after cold summer nights on Pikes Peak.

Alpine Sunflowers on Pikes Peak

Photo Credits: All three photos by Melissa Walker

And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days…

Whether we look, or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten…

by poet James Russell Lowell (1819 – 1891)

Wild Iris (by Winston Walker)

Northern Flicker tends nest in Cottonwood Tree

Cottonwood seeds blowing in the wind

I was leading a bird walk in Garden of the Gods Park this morning, but the bright wildflowers were so beautifully “distracting” that the focus of the walk quickly widened. Light blue Penstamon, creamy white Yucca, light pink Wild Roses and orange-red Indian Paintbrush competed with the birds for my attention.

The rains and late snows of this year’s spring season brought adequate moisture to nurture this year’s healthy bloom of the Plains Yucca. The tall stalks of white flowers cover many of the hills and mesas in the Pikes Peak Region almost every year. The pale blossoms attract night-flying moths that pollinate the yucca. Then, within a few weeks, the flowers become bulky, 2 – 4 inch seedpods. The seeds are a good source of food for wildlife. Even after a deep snowfall, birds can fly to the tall yucca stalks and feast on the seeds.

Plains Yucca with needle-sharp leaves

Always a favorite, the orange-red Indian Paintbrush flowers really do look like paintbrushes dipped into bright paint, then set out in the foothills to dry. Indian Paintbrushes at lower elevations are usually red or orange in color. Higher in the mountain, paintbrushes of rose and light yellow are more common.

Indian Paintbrush

Adding to the beauty of the wildflowers is the sweet fragrance of the Chokecherry shrub. This member of the Rose Family has tiny white flowers arranged singly on a dangling 4 – inch flower stalk, called a raceme. After the flowers are pollinated, they change into green seeds. By late summer, the ripe seeds, now red, are called chokecherries and are a favorite food of birds, bears and other mammals.

Chokecherries in full bloom

Common Name – Pasque Flower
Latin Name – Pulsatilla patens
Family – Buttercup (Ranunculaceae)

On March 31, I hiked slowly along the trails of Bear Creek Nature Center hoping to find a Pasque Flower in bloom. I didn’t see any sign of the flowers in their usual location along the edges of a scrub oak thicket. Just as I was beginning to think that maybe I wouldn’t find one, I found two! The fragile-looking purple flower is actually quite hardy and very well-adapted to be one of Spring’s first wildflowers. It is cloaked with tiny silky hairs that help to insulate it from the cold winds and freezing temperatures of late March and early April. The flower is named “Pasque” because it blooms during the Easter (Paschal) season.

My favorite nature writer Ann Zwinger describes the Pasque Flower as,
“where there was snow last week, there is today a delicate Pasque Flower, so pale as to seem formed of snow crystals.”