Grand Fir cone
The morning of the second day of camping at the White River Campground we were bombarded by these fresh pinecones, falling from the top of the trees, perhaps 50-80 feet up. They were almost rock hard, 4-6 inches long, over an inch thick, sticky with sap, and hit the ground at high speed, sometimes breaking into pieces. Being hit by one would probably injure you very nicely. The bombardment lasted only 5 or 10 minutes, then stopped. We figured it was squirrel-caused.
Amazed at the size and hardness of the cones I tried to figure out what kind they were. I had a couple field guides with me but could not quite figure it out until I walked around the campground and saw similar cones on top of other trees and managed to see the needles up close. Then I was able to say, yes, these appear to be the cones of the Grand Fir tree. I'm still open to the possibility they were Subalpine Fir trees. But I didn't think subalpine firs would grow so tall--80 feet, 100 feet, more? Apparently they can grow that tall in well watered valleys, like the White River valley where we camped. I'm used to seeing them fairly small in the higher subalpine zone.
But the needles I saw had rounded tips, a groove on the top side and two white lines on the bottom. No white lines on the top of the needles, which my book says subalpine fir needles have. So...
No one was injured during the squirrel bombing run, but a few of us got our hands very sticky with resin or sap or whatever that gooey stuff was.
Grand Fir cone
The morning of the second day of camping at the White River Campground we were bombarded by these fresh pinecones, falling from the top of the trees, perhaps 50-80 feet up. They were almost rock hard, 4-6 inches long, over an inch thick, sticky with sap, and hit the ground at high speed, sometimes breaking into pieces. Being hit by one would probably injure you very nicely. The bombardment lasted only 5 or 10 minutes, then stopped. We figured it was squirrel-caused.
Amazed at the size and hardness of the cones I tried to figure out what kind they were. I had a couple field guides with me but could not quite figure it out until I walked around the campground and saw similar cones on top of other trees and managed to see the needles up close. Then I was able to say, yes, these appear to be the cones of the Grand Fir tree. I'm still open to the possibility they were Subalpine Fir trees. But I didn't think subalpine firs would grow so tall--80 feet, 100 feet, more? Apparently they can grow that tall in well watered valleys, like the White River valley where we camped. I'm used to seeing them fairly small in the higher subalpine zone.
But the needles I saw had rounded tips, a groove on the top side and two white lines on the bottom. No white lines on the top of the needles, which my book says subalpine fir needles have. So...
No one was injured during the squirrel bombing run, but a few of us got our hands very sticky with resin or sap or whatever that gooey stuff was.