There is a short little nature hike along the road to the lake hikes we did in Elko. It’s a fantastic way to learn about the valley. We stopped and took the time to walk the short half mile loop.
Lamoille Canyon was extensively sculpted by glaciers in previous ice ages and you can see evidence of it. The glacier started up at where Lamoille Lake is and slowly scraped and oozed its way down the canyon. Side canyons added more ice to the glacier and frozen rocks in the ice ground away at the canyon bottom and sides. We could see the the smoother looking rock on the bottom half of the canyon walls.
The main plant species in the forest are quaking aspens, as you can see in a lot of our pictures. But did you know??? These aspens don’t like shade and as their lower branches become shaded, the tree cuts off the flow of sap to them causing them to fall off. That’s what the dark eye pattern is all over the trunks…where the branch used to be.
About midpoint of the loop is a beaver pond. The water comes from a spring emerging from the ground near the pond. You can see evidence of beavers besides the dam where trees are gnawed down. The little pond keeps water in the area year round and makes for a beautiful backdrop.
This is our last blog post about our Elko adventures. On to Ely!
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