There are lots of fall colors on this hike. The yearling aspens, that are a response to the fire last year that burned most of the aspens in the canyon, are starting to turn beautiful hues of yellow, orange, and red (pictures 2 and 3). There is a huge and beautiful variety of flora, colors and forms in the canyon (picture 1).
Many thanks to the person/people that flagged a portion of the third mile. Between the aspen successfully responding to severe fire by sending up new "trees", burned trees and bushes falling onto the trail, and this trail being partially overgrown before the fire, it is often challenging to follow the trail. We got a little over 3 miles up the canyon. There are hard-to-see burnt stumps, tempered and sharp branches, and a huge number of new aspens growing to navigate through and around.
From the attached Forest Service link: "Although aspen forests do not burn readily, aspen trees are extremely sensitive to fire. A fire intense enough to kill the aspen overstory will stimulate abundant suckering, though some suckers arise after any fire. As many as 50,000 to 100,000 suckers can sprout and grow on a single acre after a fire." ... "Since aspen can sprout from existing roots and these suckers grow faster than the new slowing growing conifers, aspen can dominate in a grove for many years after a fire."
Comments
Thank you for your report, nice photos and the informative link about aspens. We hope to hike this area next week.
Posted by:
Bob and Barb on Oct 15, 2021 07:02 PM
You're welcome, have fun!
Posted by:
AlpsDayTripper on Oct 15, 2021 08:17 PM