Idaho National Forest yamadori, Fall 2019

[Atom#28]

Went on a solo 2 night camp out high atop Cougar Ridge in the Coeur D’alene National forest. Approx 5000 ft elevation. Daytime temps were about 45 F. Nights were just plain fricking cold. The trees will soon get their own threads, but here’s a few highlights. Still trying to pin down the species, but I got 2 5-needle pines, 2 hemlocky looking things, and pretty sure the big one is a larch [tamarack]. One of the best trips of my life. I am so in love with what I brought home!

 

[Atom#28]

 

[Atom#28]

Amazing and stout little pine. Found this after scanning about 11 miles of mountain forest roads. Rage Against the Machine was on the radio

 

[Atom#28]

A larch? This one was an amazing find. I had just made camp and went for an exploratory hike. Just as I was ready to turn back, I saw this dude in a little clearing, behind a fallen log. The trunk is bigger than a beer can. About 3.5ft tall. Took 2 hours to dig, due to the extremely rocky terrain. Notice that lil hemlock underneath it. I collected both in the same root ball....

 

[Atom#28]

3 More trees to come

 

[Atom#28]

This is that sneaky little hemlock that was growing under the Tamarack. The big old jin just kills me. Tons of cool deadwood features on the trunk, too. This guy stands about 2.5 feet tall.

 

[Atom#28]

*shari, I meant

 

[Atom#28]

Another 5-needle pine (what is it????). The curvy lil trunk caught my eye. Pantera was loud on the radio. I stopped. I climbed. The roots sealed the deal; the decision to dig. I got a perfect root ball, as this guy was in a rocky pocket on the edge of a deep ravine. Foliage looks pretty healthy. The trunk is only about an inch in diameter. These pics all make it look like there’s some grossly reverse taperage. I promise it’s not like that at all. Maybe a little....

 

[wireme]

Another 5-needle pine (what is it????). The curvy lil trunk caught my eye. Pantera was loud on the radio. I stopped. I climbed. The roots sealed the deal; the decision to dig. I got a perfect root ball, as this guy was in a rocky pocket on the edge of a deep ravine. Foliage looks pretty healthy. The trunk is only about an inch in diameter. These pics all make it look like there’s some grossly reverse taperage. I promise it’s not like that at all. Maybe a little.... View attachment 263791View attachment 263792View attachment 263793View attachment 263794View attachment 263795View attachment 263796View attachment 263797

Looks like a good time, glad to see you got out and enjoyed and are happy with the mountain treasure that came home!

You know we are not all that far from each other. Cour d’lane at least is not far from here.

For the 5 needle pines you would have been about the elevation where western white pine and whitebark pine meet. I see in the groundcover pic a western white pine cone. I think that is what you collected but I’m not 100 percent sure.

The larches should be western larch not tamarack but that’s cool, they are rare as bonsai but I believe only because not many bonsai people live within their range.

Good luck with them.

 

[PiñonJ]

Another 5-needle pine (what is it????). The curvy lil trunk caught my eye. Pantera was loud on the radio. I stopped. I climbed. The roots sealed the deal; the decision to dig. I got a perfect root ball, as this guy was in a rocky pocket on the edge of a deep ravine. Foliage looks pretty healthy. The trunk is only about an inch in diameter. These pics all make it look like there’s some grossly reverse taperage. I promise it’s not like that at all. Maybe a little.... View attachment 263791View attachment 263792View attachment 263793View attachment 263794View attachment 263795View attachment 263796View attachment 263797

The pines (especially the first one) appear to be Southwestern White Pine (Pinus strobiformis). I just collected my first a few weeks ago! For some reason, the images won’t load, but here’s a link to my thread: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/late-summer-collecting-trip.39911/ Nice haul! By the way, I think your Hemlock may be a Doug Fir. Can you get a close-up of the buds?

 

[Potawatomi13]

Personal feeling is that 5 needles may be Sugar Pine as needles look too long for Whitebark and don't see "white"stripe on needles of White pine. Trees you call Hemlock look much like true Fir trees. Nevertheless good collecting and good big trunks.

 

[wireme]

The pines (especially the first one) appear to be Southwestern White Pine (Pinus strobiformis). I just collected my first a few weeks ago! For some reason, the images won’t load, but here’s a link to my thread: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/late-summer-collecting-trip.39911/ Nice haul! By the way, I think your Hemlock may be a Doug Fir. Can you get a close-up of the buds?

Southwestern? I had to look it up, didn’t know there was such a thing. But why that and not just good old Western whitepine?

I quite often do have the Latin names in my head but y’know, not always into trying to spell the damn things without looking them up first! Common names actually work pretty good though a lot of the time.

 

[PiñonJ]

Southwestern? I had to look it up, didn’t know there was such a thing. But why that and not just good old Western whitepine?

I quite often do have the Latin names in my head but y’know, not always into trying to spell the damn things without looking them up first! Common names actually work pretty good though a lot of the time.

Actually, looking at the range maps, you must be right, that it’s Western White Pine (Pinus monticola). There’s quite a bit of separation between their ranges. It just looked a lot like my Pinus strobiformis.

 

[rockm]

you, um, have a permit to collect?

If so, would be instructive for others to hear the process.

 

[Atom#28]

you, um, have a permit to collect?

If so, would be instructive for others to hear the process.

Super simple. I went to the ranger station. They gave me a form. I signed it, they signed it, and they said “have fun”. Permit allows for up to 8 trees total: 3 trees between 2’ and 4’, and 5 trees up to 2’. Then the ranger asked me a bunch of questions about bonsai. We chatted for a while and she helped me plot out a course on my map. That’s all it took. Permit is free, only available for 2 weeks in the fall and two weeks in spring.

 

[misfit11]

Awesome! That Larch (Tamarack up in their neck of the woods) is terrific. Good luck with them!

 

[Atom#28]

I should add: the rangers and personnel in general in eastern WA National Forest were all extremely unhelpful, and downright rude. Every single person I interacted with on the Idaho side, however, were super helpful.

 

[Atom#28]

Awesome! That Larch (Tamarack up in their neck of the woods) is terrific. Good luck with them!

Thank you! I absolutely love it. You should have heard me whooping and cheering when i found it It took SO LONG to dig!!!! The soil was so very rocky, and I had to stop every few seconds to look around....It's hunting season, and there are tons of big bears, wolves, and cougars out there, so I had to watch my back!

 

[Maloghurst]

Thank you! I absolutely love it. You should have heard me whooping and cheering when i found it It took SO LONG to dig!!!! The soil was so very rocky, and I had to stop every few seconds to look around....It's hunting season, and there are tons of big bears, wolves, and cougars out there, so I had to watch my back!

Yes definitely be careful and on the look out. I took my girls on a little guided nature walk the other day and not 200 yards from where we parked the car next to lake Sammamish this cougar was stalking rabbits and crossing our path. The pic is bad but he’s about 40 yards away and definitely over 100lbs. I had seen him cross about 20 minutes before so I knew about where he would be when leaving. We had about 20 people or we would have booked it immediately. That is a little ranger shed on the right. That larch is nice btw.

 

[Josh88]

I'm with @PiñonJ about the hemlock being doug fir. It will be easy to tell when the buds set, as doug fir buds are pretty unique. I've made the same mistake in the past thinking I was looking at western hemlock foliage. I nice group of trees you found, and I'm glad your experience with the permit process was good. Mine have been as well but I've heard very different experiences. Best of luck with their recovery!