the limber pine trail

as we were camped at sunrise (post below) we decided to walk the limber pine trail. the limber pine trail is at the top of the canyon and is an easy, well-developed nature trail. this is a great trail for kids.

the kids are excited to go on a hike. the sign tells how clarks's nutcrackers spread the seeds of the limber pines. the sign says the nutcrackers bury about 30,000 seeds each fall. they simply use their memory of landmarks to locate the seeds in the spring. naturally, they forget a few and that is how the limber pine spreads. we didn't see any clark's nutcrackers, but we did see a deer.

this is libby's new face. i don't know. she just makes this face whenever i want to take a picture.

this trail has many interpretive signs. we learned a lot about the forest from reading these. this particular sign tells about witches broom. witches broom is a malformation on a tree caused by a fungus called rust. i saw a great example of this at our campsite - i wish i would have gotten a picture of it.

an interesting tree. does anyone know why it grew this way? we do because we read the sign!

the family posed by a gnarled fallen tree.

can you see the rocks stuck in the roots of this tree? it hard to tell from a picture but those are not small rocks.

we found out that lincoln does not like hiking. whenever we tried to make him walk, like i did in this picture, he'd walk about two steps . . .

then plop to the ground and scream.

"mom, why are you making me walk? you are so cruel!"

this is a beautiful hike with lots of trees and meadows of wildflower here and there.

and here is the limber pine.

why do you think these trees grew so close together? any ideas?

heehee. a toadstool. i just thought it was neat, okay? and since i've been asking so many questions, here is another one. what is the difference between toadstool and mushrooms? and yes, i do know the answer.

a beautiful sego lily! the state flower of utah! we saw a few of these. sego lily's were very important to the survival of the first pioneers in utah. after the crickets ruined their crops the pioneers had to get creative which included eating the bulbs of the sego lily. Interesting fact: it's scientific name is calochortus nuttalli - it was named after the botanist Thomas Nuttall. Any of you Nuttalls know if there is any relation?

there are all sorts of wildflowers on this trail. the views were great and at many points you can see bear lake.

this, obviously, is not part of the trail but we saw this in the canyon. ethan and i got a kick out of it. we weren't really sure what the sign was telling us to do.