Transcript:
Lichen Palettes at Moses Coulee
Saturday 10-14-23
A breezy however gorgeous day at Moses Coulee today. The star of my walking has actually been the sensational lichen colors on the basalt cliffs. As I stroll, I start to observe the smaller sized information. Where will I discover the next program of lichen? I rapidly understood lichen is almost all over!
Today’s lichen colors: Mustard yellow (cliffs, rocks), lime yellow (branches, fence post), sunlight (branches), scorched orange (cliffs, rocks), tangerine (rocks), gold leaf (cliffs, rocks), charcoal (rocks), grey (rocks), and bone (rocks, lawns).
On rock surface areas, I observed leafy (foliose) lichens with bumps, ridges, and cup-like shapes in their texture (Sunburst lichen, lichen 2, lichen 3). Nestled into a sagebrush branch, I observed hairy (fruticose) lichen (lichen 4). The texture was shrubby. A lot of the lichens (crustose) were scaly, flaky, and crust-like in texture (lichen 5). They were extensive on cliffs with patterns of intermixing color.
As the sun gets lower, the lichen colors are beginning to pop with the late afternoon light. I stop briefly for a minute and after that leave in marvel.
How long have these lichens grown to fill out these gorgeous areas?
