Medicine Bow Mountains, Wyoming

Medicine Bow Mountains, Wyoming, a photo by andiwolfe (I'm back!) on Flickr.

The first evening of the American Penstemon Society meeting featured a lecture by Dennis Knight, a retired professor at the University of Wyoming. He gave us an overview of the geomorphology and vegetation of Wyoming, focused on the areas we would be visiting.

One of the most interesting things he talked about was the uplift and erosion of the mountains. What you see here is an erosion basin, which makes the mountains look very small. In fact, I was at 10,000 ft in elevation, looking across to the Snowy Range.

The trees are one-sided (referred to as flag trees) due to the constant wind up here, which comes from the west. In the winter the wind carries snow and ice crystals which beat up the trees big time.

It's a gorgeous landscape, and the alpine flora is well worth exploring.