Alpine Tundra, Central Cascades
Posted December 27th, 2009 in [hide]
More than any other photo from this trip, this image shouts out to me that it’s from the tundra.
The alpine variety is obviously a bit different, able to exist anywhere on earth should the mountains rise high enough. This is generally defined as being above a weather-created tree line; when it’s too cold for trees to grow, it’s alpine tundra, but when there are no trees because of poor soil, or logging, that may not be the case.
What it means to be tundra is a little bit fuzzy, although not as much as, say, the definition of big, or old. Most tundra exists at far northern latitudes, where a layer of permafrost just below the ground level prevents trees from setting down roots, giving the land over to shrubs and even smaller plants.
At “only” 4,839 feet, this bowl carved (somehow) into the mountain is well above the tree line, even if there are a few trees. The rocky wall shown here acts as a barrier to the wind, and, during the spring and fall, the flat ground helps to create a catchment area for snow-melt. The pond shown in a few other photos from this hike was to my back when I shot this image.
