Vacation recap day 4 June 19th

We decided to go up and hike the Limber Pine trail because the boys would be able to get the Discovery Scout badge for it. It was supposed to be an easy hike and it would get us out of the condo for a while. So we grabbed the bottled water and off we went.

All this hike did was illustrate to me how out of shape I have gotten since I stopped walking every day. UGH. B and BIL, and all the bigger kids took off at a rapid pace, but Shanae and I took our time, we stopped to smell (Aka photograph) the flowers and enjoy the scenery, which is probably the only way I actually made it all the way through this stupid hike in the first place LOL I have GOT to get in better shape!



There was a sign that explained these trees. When the snow gets too deep and heavy for the baby trees to push through, they begin to grow sideways, then as the snow melts, they start pushing toward the sun again.

Here is a bigger version...


This is a friend we met along the way.


A blessedly flat section of trail.


Sometimes bad things are beautiful. This is called Rust, it's the tree's reaction to a fungal "infection". This fungal infection is bad because it is killing the Limber pines faster than they can be regenerated and loosing trees means much more than simply loosing a tree, it is the loss of a habitat and food source as well. (See Shanae, there is a tiny bit of granola in me too, I am not completely hopeless LOL)


A gorgeous view from the top of the trail.


And the purpose of all of this is to see this...now this may look like any other old tree, but this tree is OLD. This tree is about 2,560 years old. Stop and think about that for a minute. That means that this tree had been standing on this mountain for five hundred years already by the time of the birth of Christ. It's mind boggling isn't it? It is certainly humbling.