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Santiam Burn Blue

Deep blue skies over the slowly recovering forest landscape along the Pacific Crest Trail near Santiam Pass in the Cascade Range of central Oregon. Taken at about 5,000 ft of elevation on the slopes of Three-Fingered Jack. This area was burned twelve years ago by the 2003 Booth Fire, part of the B&B Complex that ultimately burned 90,769 acres (367.33 km2) that summer. Despite the devastation, it is heartening to see the young hemlock and fir trees pushing their way up past their ghostlike, departed brethren, on their way to supplanting them and replenishing this remarkable subalpine ecosystem.

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Uploaded on October 7, 2015
Taken on July 15, 2015