Marathon Pundit: Four Corners Furtherance: More trees

On Saturday we looked at some of the trees I encountered in my Four Corners Furtherance trip. Time for some more. The first photograph, taken on the Devils Garden Trail in Arches National Park, is a two-fer. Those are Utah Junipers, in front of them are some Mormon Tea shrubs. Members of the Church of Latter-day Saints abstain from caffeinated beverages, but Mormon pioneers made a tea from this plant.

Click on any image to make it larger.

Pinyon Pines are a popular symbol of the desert. These slow-growing trees can live to 350 years. The one on the upper right can be found on the Hickman Bridge trail in Capitol Reef National Park.

It's difficult to write about western trees without including the Ponderosa Pine. It dominates the region. As for the name, it comes from its size--ponderous. Although the one on the center right is a young tree.

The same goes for sagebrush, of which I didn't see much of on this trip.
But in Zion National Park's Kolob Canyon I found this, well, grove of sagebrush. In the high desert sagebrush is shrubbier than on the Great Plains. In the Battle of Little Big Horn, Indians used sagebrush to obscure themselves as they annihilated Colonel George A. Custer's 7th Calvary.

Next: Colorado River

Earlier posts:

Trees
The gateway to the Arches
Petroglyphs
Arches National Park and the symbol of Utah
A final look at Capitol Reef
Butch Cassidy