Dave & Meredith’s Travel Blog

Better late than never, my gallery of pictures from our trip to the Southwest in October is now up. You can click here to see it or look at the list of galleries on the Photo Galleries page.

- Dave

When we were in Boulder, our friend Paul told us about the mountain pine beetle that is destroying large lodgepole pine trees throughout Colorado.  The beetles have done most of their work on the west side of the continental divide, but recently, they have crossed over to the eastern side as well.  As we drove west from Boulder, it was shocking to see how many trees had been killed by this beetle.  There were some mountains covered in dead trees with reddish-brown needles, instead of healthy green ones.  The beetles have flourished due to a combination of milder weather (even in higher elevations) as well as a prior reluctance to manage the forests through controlled burning.

Experts estimate that within 5 years, all of the mature lodgepole pine forests in Colorado will be dead.  This is a very big issue for Colorado, with potential serious effects on the water supply, wildlife, carbon dioxide emissions, the lumber industry and tourism.

To learn more, here is a link to an article from the Rocky Mountain News on the issue (as you can see from the comments after the article, lots of people have opinions on who is to blame for the increased damage):

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jan/15/beetle-infestation-get-much-worse/

Here is a general Wikipedia article on the mountain pine beetle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_beetle

- Meredith

Here is the view from our window at Paul and Jenn’s place in Boulder where we stayed for 2 nights:

Our room faced the front of the house.  Behind the house, there’s a beautiful yard leading right out to a trail that goes up into the nearby foothills.  Paul didn’t care enough about us to put us in a room with that view, but he did want us to take a picture of his backyard and LIE to our readers by saying the nice view was the actual view from our window.  Nice try, Paul.  Liar. 

- Meredith

PS – Jenn had nothing to do with the attempted lie.

We flew from Boston to Denver and stayed with our friends Paul and Jenn in Boulder for a couple days.  Our time with them went too quickly, but we’re glad we were able to see them on such short notice.

Jenn had to work during the day, but Paul took us around Boulder, up into Rocky Mountain National Park for a quick view of elks bugling (it’s a mating season thing – it’s hard to describe the sound – it’s kind of a cross between a bugle and a scream), and to the local REI for some last minute gear for the trip.

Here is a picture of Paul and Jenn (they’re expecting a baby in December!):

- Meredith