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Firs and Frost

The trail to the summit of Table Mountain winds through bear grass and fir trees coated in a layer of hoar frost. The Douglas firs abundant resin protects the living tissue below the bark from the freezing temperatures. This very same resin makes these trees highly flammable, though older trees grow a thick layer of bark which can protect from smaller fires, younger trees such as these have resin filled blisters on the surface, in warm temperatures simply pressing with a finger can burst a blister.

With this winters low precipitation it's looking more and more likely that 2014 will be another intense year for wildfires in the North West.

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Uploaded on January 22, 2014
Taken on January 20, 2014