Back again!
Aug. 25th, 2017 08:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpAfter making my peace last Sunday, the 20th, with a protracted lack of connectivity (including cell service from T-Mobile), it wasn't hard to stay off the electronic grid on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but I get ahead of myself.
Huntür, Mathew, and I set off for Denver at 9 am on Sunday. On the way over the Wolf Creek Pass, we stopped at Site Lima and Site Romeo, where we found, respectively, some lobster mushrooms and incredible devastation.
The lobster mushrooms (way more orange in person than in the photo):
The devastation:
The pine trees whose needles were turning brown six years ago in response to having been killed by pine bark beetles now stand starkly in a depressing study of grays. However, new saplings are appearing everywhere, though it will probably take decades for the forest to recover.
On the way back to Highway 160, I passed what I initially dismissed as a nice, new softball that has been discarded on the side of the road, but then the mushrooming circuits in my brain kicked in, and I stopped the car and backed up. That "softball" turned out to be a puffball, in pristine condition and most edible.
After those short stops, we continued over the pass and eventually elected to take the "inland" route to Denver, consisting mostly of Highway 285. Once we eventually gained access to Interstate 25 near Denver, we then turned south, toward Parker, where some old friends had graciously agreed to put me and the kids up for the night.
More later...
Huntür, Mathew, and I set off for Denver at 9 am on Sunday. On the way over the Wolf Creek Pass, we stopped at Site Lima and Site Romeo, where we found, respectively, some lobster mushrooms and incredible devastation.
The lobster mushrooms (way more orange in person than in the photo):
The devastation:
The pine trees whose needles were turning brown six years ago in response to having been killed by pine bark beetles now stand starkly in a depressing study of grays. However, new saplings are appearing everywhere, though it will probably take decades for the forest to recover.
On the way back to Highway 160, I passed what I initially dismissed as a nice, new softball that has been discarded on the side of the road, but then the mushrooming circuits in my brain kicked in, and I stopped the car and backed up. That "softball" turned out to be a puffball, in pristine condition and most edible.
After those short stops, we continued over the pass and eventually elected to take the "inland" route to Denver, consisting mostly of Highway 285. Once we eventually gained access to Interstate 25 near Denver, we then turned south, toward Parker, where some old friends had graciously agreed to put me and the kids up for the night.
More later...
