Panorama View of the Lochsa River Canyon, at the Colgate Lick Rest Area. This Area Has Springs and Natural Salt Lick Deposits. Evidence of a Bad Forest Fires Mentioned by the Narrator Is Still Seen!
"Turns in the road are less sharp here and straight stretches are longer. I move into the highest gear. .. Later the trees become scarce and spindly, with large areas of grass and underbrush between them. It’s too hot for the jacket and sweater so I stop at a roadside pulloff to remove them. .. Chris wants to go hiking up a trail and I let him, finding a small shady spot to sit back and rest. Just quiet now, and meditative. .. A display describes a fire burn that took place here years ago. According to the information the forest is filling in again but it will be years before it returns to its former condition."
In Lochsa River Canyon, 50 miles East of Lowel, ID. The Panorama opens with a view of the steep mountain side beyond the highway. The Lochsa River is unseen in the thick trees. Soon after you start scrolling, you see the Highway West as it disappears around a bend. The Rest Area pavement next comes into view where the fire damage is indicated by the dead trees littering the open grassy areas. It is evident from these photos, that the late 50's fire damage, mentioned in a sign, is still present when I came thru in Summer of 2002. This was very likely the damage seen in 1968 by Chris and the Narrator. Apparently this area is so dry and arid that the old dead wood is too dry to rot away, and forest here take a tremendously long time to recover!! What a 1997 USDA Forest Service Web Page said: "Much of the Lochsa River Basin was burned between 1910 and 1934. The 1910, 1919, 1924, and 1934 fires burned a total of 77,100 acres (61%) of the NLF analysis area at various intensity levels. Several of the major drainages burned 2 to 3 times between 1910 and 1934. Most of these double/triple burns retarded natural forest succession, creating extensive serial shrub fields still present today." Several webpages mentioned the "1910 Burn" as being notoriously sever, covering several states, and remembered by all!! More photos and information about the salt lick is given with my Lochesa Canyon photos seen in my Gallery for ZMM Part III.
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(Photo = 110-1059+7sc ...... ZMM Page = 252 ...... WayPt = 268`|w|' 3003ft )

Upload Date	:	Wed 28 Dec 2005 04:52:09 PM EST
Capture Date	:	Wed 28 Dec 2005 04:52:06 PM EST
Image Size	:	7891 x 825 (828k)