Cedar Trees

9/14/13

I hadn't been to the desert in awhile so I decided to take some guns and go shooting and exploring.  I invited Eric as he had not been out there and then later learned that Lance was doing nothing that day so we invited him as well.  There are some really big Cedar trees that are in Islands where the lava flowed around allowing them to grow.  One botanist estimated the age of the trees to be around 1500 years old.  I asked Lance if he remembered how to find them.  We started in the right place and then traveled out across the desert but a little off course as we could not see the proper landmarks due to clouds.  Eventually in a large roundabout way we found them.  It turns out they are about a half mile from where we parked but in reality we walked about 3 miles in a circle before we found them.  The first pictures here are of some different trees in a different Island that are not quite as big but still impressive.  A long time ago pioneers had come in here to cut down some of these trees and the evidence of their being there was obvious.  Watch out for rattlesnakes as we have always seen them out here.  This day we saw two snakes.  The first one's tail was just sticking out of a hole in the ground and I almost stepped on it.  The second one was a big one that was under a large flat slab of basalt I was standing on.  I stepped off the rock and Lance saw the rattlesnake coming out then dart back in.  It was really agitated as it was buzzing like crazy.  Lance dared Eric to lift the rock and then I would shoot it but fortunately Eric declined.


Lance, Nelson and Eric

The tallest tree to the right on the horizon is the biggest one of the whole bunch.  We are coming in from the East but we should have been coming in from the West.  I recognized the bent profile of this tree about a quarter mile away and then we headed for it.  The tree is relatively unchanged from pictures we took of it about 20 years ago.

The biggest one



I should have put somebody next to it as you can't appreciate the size here.  I will have to find the old photos we took where a few of us were standing by this tree and we look pretty small.  It would be easy to get 3 people standing next to the tree here and it would still be bigger.



You put the butte where we parked behind us and then line up the butte to the left in the far distance of this photo and then go in a straight line for about a half mile.

Sometimes the cracks in the lava are deep enough and collect enough moisture that you will see ferns down below.  There are lots of cracks and fissures in this desert that you have to jump across.  Also it is really hard on your shoes.  Also note the geometrical shapes of the basalt.  Basalt will usually cool in a hexagon shape I believe.