Heroic Trees
We are back to the amazing Lassen Volcanic National Park. This is the fourth installment in this series, you can see the first here, the second here and the third one here.
Remember that Lassen is a park of high craggy peaks and verdant forest. Today we will look at where those two things come together.
I found examples of trees that had been damaged by wind, snow, lightning and gravity. This one was growing on an impossibly rocky point. You can see that the one in front didn't make it and this one isn't going to either. The third tree in the line has had it's top broken off to make it spread out that way.
Another tree growing right on the marge between usable and death. Notice just to the left in the frame a snag that looks like it may have been burned. Possible lightning? To the right and lower you can see another tree leaning at an impossible angle and can be sure that it won't stand another snow.
It's obvious that these trees don't need deep soil to germinate and grow. It obviously takes a little more soil than this for them to thrive. The grizzled old giant in center frame had given up much of himself to keep growing, with almost no limbs surviving.
There are at least three broken stumps in this frame. Casualties that could no longer pull a living out of the rocky patch.
Look at this guy in the forest. Just shattered top and a few scraggly lower branches still holding needles. Lightning, no question. On the extreme left you can see the crown of a tree that was probably hit by lightning but put out a new crown and is continuing to grow.
Notice the tree just left of center, with the curve in it's stump? And the two scragglers right in the foreground? That is caused by snow and gravity as the snow pushes down hill. It's inevitable and impressive.
See the bend in the trunks? Every tree you can see in this frame has been bent by the weight of snow sliding downhill. It's amazing to me how much force the snow can exert. That's some serious push to deform trees like that.
This is after all the Sierra Nevada mountains where they get almost unbelievable snowfall and it lasts for months. Look at the stump on the far right and you can see a pretty gross deformity that has been caused by snow. The fallen tree here finally gave up and broke right near the ground.
These trees are stunted and bent by wind! This is an exposed knob at near timber line elevation and you can see the effect of high winds that hit here often.
Thanks for staying with me to the end. Next time we will look at another specific aspect of Lassen Volcanic National Park.
All words and photographs in this post are mine. For better or worse.
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