Transcription:
Thursday, May 13, 2021
FLORISSANT FOSSIL BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT
Last stop on this trip! Florissant feels like it’s rather in the middle of nowhere, but what a beautiful nowhere! Canyons and valleys around every corner, hillsides swept with my beloved pines.
It’s nice to wind down the trip with a quiet park. We did the 3-mile Sawmill Trail without encountering any other people, and got through most of the Petrified Forest Loop without company as well. As we walked that trail and the Geologic Trail Spur, I started a running catalog of questions to go back and bother the rangers with. Why do the trees seem to be weathering faster in the middle? Only a few stumps have been dug up (in the early 1900s, of course), but do you know how many more are out there, still buried? Do you have enough of a dendrochronology timeline to know which tree is the oldest?
Yeah, I’m that guy. Don’t act surprised.
We cornered Ranger Nick and plied him for info for a solid half hour. He even took the time to go back onto the trail with us to demonstrate a few answers. (Re: above – they’re not weathering faster; about 35 total petrified redwoods; “that tree over there is the oldest.” Guess you had to be there.)
As we got to talking, our connections to Yellowstone came up, and for the first time on the whole trip, I got to tell someone about being the Princess of Yellowstone. A most rewarding stop! [(He was duly impressed.)]
Thither & Yon 