The Nature Trail

Welcome to the Pinecone Lodge Nature Trail

One of our chipmunks.
(photo taken at the stack of firewood west of the house)

This trail is all on Pinecone Lodge's five acres. You can walk this nature trail when you are at Pinecone Lodge.

There are no snakes at Pinecone Lodge, so it’s OK to walk the property. We've identified items of interest around Pinecone Lodge with red flags. The number on each flag relates to a paragraph below. Walk around the property (yes, all the way to the back of the five acres), spot a flag, check its number, then refer to that paragraph. There are no flags for the first three paragraphs.

We provide laminated index cards for each flag. You can carry these cards with you while you explore the Pinecone Lodge Nature Trail.

Note: Scat piles are temporary. A thunderstorm can wash a scat pile away overnight. Snow melt runoff and the action of insects cause a scat pile to deteriorate to nothing over time. We try to keep the nature trail current, moving flags denoting scat piles as necessary, but some scat piles in the list below may no longer exist.

1. Let’s start in the house. Note the slate flooring around the wood-burning stove. Do you see what looks like fossils within some of the pieces of slate? They are a dark blue in color and look like little trees. Those aren’t fossils. Another mineral seeped into the slate, making the pattern you see. They’re called dendrites. Dendrites are made of magnesium oxide.

2. Now let’s go out the front door. Look at the stump on the left side of the steps. Do you see funny looking holes in the top, and really large holes in the side? Those holes were made by woodpeckers. The very small holes on the side were made by wood-boring insects. That’s what the woodpeckers were looking for. They eat those insects. We’ve seen Hairy Woodpeckers on this stump. There may have been others.

3. Look at the ground in the driveway. We don’t have dirt. The ground at Pinecone Lodge is made up of decomposed granite. Imagine Pikes Peak broken up into very small pieces of gravel. Granite is formed as molten magma that welled up into the outer layers of the earth’s crust, then cooled and crystallized. Think of Pinecone Lodge as one very large parking lot with trees.

4. This is a Ponderosa Pine tree. There are about 1,000 Ponderosa Pines at Pinecone Lodge. They grow from 150-230 feet tall, and live for 300-500 years. Look around. Perhaps you can see why we named this property Pinecone Lodge. This is the most widely distributed and common pine in North America. It’s named for its ponderous, or heavy, wood. Quail, nutcrackers, squirrels, chipmunks, and many other kinds of wildlife eat the seeds inside the pinecones.

Can you see where the bark has been ripped off? This damage was done in January 2007 by porcupines eating the bark. You will see porcupine damage to many pine trees on the property.

5. This is a Quaking Aspen tree. It is the most widely distributed tree in North America. Aspens typically grow to about 100 feet tall and live for 70-100 years. The name refers to the leaves that tremble in the slightest breeze. Aspens are famous for their golden color in autumn. Porcupines girdled (ate the bark completely around the tree trunk) most of the aspens while eating the bark for dinner.

Aspen Scars: The dark scars on aspen tree's white bark are caused by elk, deer and other foraging animals that nibble on the soft inner bark when deep snows bury grasses and shrubs. Besides chewing on aspen bark for food, elk and mule deer rub their antlers against the trunks to shed velvet in autumn. Other aspen scars are made by black bears marking their territory, and woodpeckers creating holes to search for insects or make nests. If injured or grazed on too severely, some of these aspen trees will die. Healthy aspens without scars thrive where there are fewer impacts from wildlife.

6. This tree is called a snag because it is a dead tree that hasn’t fallen down. Note the top has broken off. Walk around the snag. Did you note all the woodpecker holes? The one at the top leads into a hollow trunk. Something has been living here. Snags are like wildlife hotels. They provide wildlife with a place to sleep, get a meal, or simply rest for a few minutes. How many creatures might find a home in a tiny hollowed out cavity? Abert’s Squirrels, wrens, woodpeckers, and raccoons all like these cozy accommodations, not to mention the numerous insects that live here. The insects living here are actually feeding on the dead tree, and they will in turn be fed upon by some of the snag’s other residents. Try to spot other wildlife hotels as you walk around Pinecone Lodge.

7. Here we have a tree called Englemann Spruce (Picea engelmannii, see National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees, Western Region page 263). There are several of these trees at Pinecone Lodge. Look at the needles. They are dull, flexible, and have four sides, not at all like the Ponderosa Pine needles. The needles feel square to the touch. These trees typically grow to heights of 100-120 feet and have life spans of about 400 years. Squirrels eat the seeds within the cones and leave behind piles of cone scales beneath the tree. Over the years the heap builds up and is called a midden.

8. Look up in this pine tree. Do you see many branches, a dense growth, too many branches it seems, at one place in the tree? This is called a witches broom. It is a dense growth stimulated by a disease. Probably in less than 100 years this tree will become another decaying log.

9. Look carefully from the flag south to the fence. Do you see a faint path? This a game trail. Deer and elk jump over the fence and walk along the trail. It’s probably used by other wildlife as well. If you look carefully, you will be able to see other game trails at Pinecone Lodge.

10. This pine tree fell over in a May 2006 windstorm. Look at the bottom of the tree. It’s all rotted. That’s why the wind could blow it down.

11. This is a pile of Mule Deer scat. Look at the size and shape. You will find many piles of Mule Deer scat on Pinecone Lodge. Unless it snowed in the last couple of days, knowing animal tracks does not help at Pinecone Lodge. The decomposed granite does not let animals make good tracks. Scat helps identify which type of animal has been on the property.

12. Here is another pile of scat. This one looks different than Mule Deer scat. It is Rocky Mountain Elk scat. It is larger than Mule Deer scat, and is shaped a little differently.

13. The Common Porcupine scat pile has almost disappeared. As soon as we find another pile, we will move the flag. The porcupine scat pile does not look at all like deer or elk.

14. Look carefully at this pine tree. Do you see something dark brown growing out of the branches. You’re right. It doesn’t belong there. That is called dwarf mistletoe. It’s a parasite, and will kill the tree. Properly managed, the larger trees can survive for another 30-60 years. Left alone, infected trees will die in 7 or 8 years. All 1,000 Ponderosa Pines are infected with dwarf mistletoe. About 25% of Colorado’s Ponderosa Pines are infected with dwarf mistletoe. In April 2006, we planted 30 Douglas Fir and 30 Englemann Spruce trees because they are not affected by dwarf mistletoe.

Dwarf mistletoes are small, leafless, parasitic flowering plants. The seeds, explosively discharged from the fruit at almost 60 mph, are sticky and adhere to any surface they strike. Seeds that stick to young branches germinate, and the mistletoe rootlet penetrates the bark. Dwarf mistletoe seeds generally are dispersed in August and early September.

Dwarf mistletoes grow into the bark and phloem of the tree. The parasite produces root-like structures called "sinkers" that form each year. Sinkers become embedded deep in the wood as twigs grow. These sinkers provide the parasite with water and nutrients obtained from the tree.

Dwarf mistletoes kill by slowly robbing the tree of food and water. Diseased trees decline and die from the top down as lower infected branches take more food and water. Death occurs slowly in most cases and depends on the severity of infection and on the vigor and size of the tree.

Dwarf mistletoes have a relatively long life cycle between infection and seed production (six to eight years). This allows for long-term disease management. However, when trees are heavily infested by mistletoe, they are commonly attacked by twig and Ips bark beetles that kill branches or whole trees.

15. Do you see many small holes on this tree trunk? The holes are caused by an insect called Ips beetle or Pine Bark Beetle. They killed the tree.

Adults bore through the outer bark and then tunnel and lay eggs in the soft inner bark. The development of larvae and pupae is completed in the outer bark. Adults develop from pupae and emerge by boring out through the bark. Many generations can be produced in any given year. Upon removal of the infested bark, the tunnels of the beetles will be found grooving the inner bark surface.

16. This rotting log has a story to tell. Do you see where most of the bark is missing?
         That was probably torn off by a hungry black bear looking for grubs to eat. Do
         you see the little pathways in the wood? Those were created by wood-boring
         insects. See paragraph 15 for more information on the insects. The large holes
         were created by woodpeckers. The small holes were bored by insects.

17. What made this hole in the ground? We don’t have any snakes at Pinecone Lodge, so I’m not sure. We do have gophers in the front yard, but they usually stay underground. Do you have any ideas?

18. We have a coyote pack in the neighborhood (I’ll bet you have one at home, too!). We’ve identified coyote scat on the property. A scat pile is temporary. Wind, rain, insects, and other wildlife all help the scat pile disappear after a while.

20. Place your nose next to the bark of a large Ponderosa Pine. Can you smell the scent of vanilla or butterscotch? The aroma is produced only after the tree is about 75 years old. The Abert’s Squirrels at Pinecone Lodge choose a certain ponderosa as its preferred home and food source simply because of the tree’s scent. Short sticks with the bark stripped off at the base of the tree are evidence of the squirrels.

21. What do you think made these claw marks on the aspen? We don't think it was a bear; their claw marks are usually four parallel lines. We don’t know what made these marks.

22. The scrape about two feet up on this young Ponderosa Pine was probably created by a Mule Deer buck scraping the velvet off his antlers.

24. What plant is growing out of this dead log? We can’t identify it. Can you tell us what it is?

25. Look at the top of this tree. You can see that the top several feet of the tree is dead. Trees grow from the top up, so this tree is dying. It will probably be dead within a year. Look around the Pinecone Lodge property. Look at the tops of trees. Can you tell healthy trees (green at the top) from dying trees (dead at the top)?

26. Cactus in the mountains? We’ll bet you were surprised! This is called Pikes Peak Cactus.

28. There are probably three chipmunk colonies at Pinecone Lodge. One colony makes its home in this woodpile.

30. Probably a bear tore the bark off the bottom of this dead tree looking for grubs.

34. Wow! What a scat pile! It's not what you might think. A mule escaped from the field across the road and left this souvenir pile.

36. Elk and deer have been chewing on this aspen. See the black scars? Those are bite marks.