Exploring the West

From exploring the Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park to hiking the beautiful trails of Silverton, CO, we can’t belive its only been 5 days and we have seen so much already. As we prep for our backpacking trip and get ready to live amongst the wilderness sunk in between the towering ridgelines for several days we can’t help but feel grateful. This journey will push us to great personal heights and allow us to see beauty that requires much vigor.

Fens are groundwater-fed wetlands with organic soils (in this case a few feet of peat extremely rich in iron from surrounding deposits) that typically support sedges and low stature shrubs and often host rare plants and animals. In the mountain west, organic soil formation can take thousands of years and long-term maintenance of fens requires protection of both hydrology and plant communities.

Through the non-profit Mountain Studies Institute we helped to plant a good amount on sedge grass in a area that has been in the process of being restored for 10 years now!

Story and photos by Sean Botzenhart