Thursday, January 8, 2009

Dead Horse Gap


Dead Horse Gap, aptly named. Could also get away with a name like Dead Tree Gap. The red poles alongside the road serve a two fold purpose. One, when the road is under snow, you know where both the road and certain death are. Two, to alert you that you are travelling through an avalanche area - dont dawdle - keep going or take your chances.


Look closely, regeneration is underway. Supposedly there is a car park and a walking track here, but we didnt see it, and so pushed on.


We spied this colourful wild flower elsewhere. I needed to see some colour after re-visiting Dead Horse Gap, thought you would enjoy it too.

4 comments:

Melanie said...

The top picture made me go wow. I prefer trees to be living of course but I still find them spectacular when they are dead. These ones look very ghostly.

Lona said...

The blue wild flower is gorgeous. So bright. The dead trees may help as a wind break but are not the best looking sight.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I did not know you had snow and avalanches over there. I'm always thinking of eternal summer, when I think of Australia. However, I do get the purpose of the red pillars now. The trees look stunning, was it drought or wildfire that made them die? The little flower should be a species of viper's bugloss (Echium), at least it looks remarkably similar to the once we have here in Europe. Great field trip pictures Lavender!

Lavender said...

Melanie Ghostly is a GREAT word for it! So dramatic, I did take a tonne of beaut landscape pics...how could I resist? I think Id like to go back again in a couple years time, and see how it comes thru, should be interesting to see :)

Hocking Hills Gardener Thank you very much, I really like this one too! Pity I dont know its name - it seemed familiar to me from my days stateside - I thought it was commonly called Vipers Dreadnought, but a google search has got me nowhere - oh well! Can still admire it LOL
Thanks for stopping in, Cheers!

Areeiro You werent the only one! LOL We were surprised that so much area was considered an avalanche area - and having come from an area of the world with lots of mountains - I thought they must be being way too careful about this LOL I scoffed at Australia's inability to handle snow - quite alot - while we travelled thru this area. Aussies are spoiled for lovely weather, so really it makes sense that they be nearly paranoid when it comes to tonnes of snow, I am being too hard on them ;)
I think its the combination of drought and fire thats doing in these trees - add in the harsh winters and I think I would give up too if I were one.
YES! YES! I was thinking Vipers' Dreandnought - but found nothing to back myself up on that, that may have been a regional name I do remember also hearing of Vipers Bugloss so let me do a search.....
.......Areeiro, youve done it again!!! Thats exactly it, oh hooray! Thanks Mate, what a relief, no wonder Vipers Dreadnought got me nowhere - it is in fact Vipers Bugloss
Heres a link with great macro pics at microscopy-uk.org.uk (which looks like it could be a fun site to visit as well) Cheers!