[NFB-Science] exploring pine trees on Mount San Jacinto

[donnabutterfly50 at gmail.com]

Hi John,
This sounds like you had a fabulous opportunity. You may remember that I
coordinate the Birding by Ear and Beyond program at the University of
Michigan Dearborn. The Beyond word in the title pertains to nature
exploration with subjects such as tree identification. We feel the bark and
also the shapes of the leaves in summer. With Pines we count the number of
needles, which are leaves, in a cluster. For example, the White Pine has
five needles bound together and that happens to be our state tree. The Red
Pine typically has three needles in a cluster and bark that feels like
flakey pie crust. Anyway, it is fun to learn about the wonders in nature and
I have great passion for learning techniques that blind people can use in
the natural environment.
Blessings,
Donna Posont

-----Original Message-----
From: NFB-Science <nfb-science-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of John Miller
via NFB-Science
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2024 1:52 PM
To: NFB Science and Engineering Division List <nfb-science at nfbnet.org>
Cc: John Miller <johnmillerphd at hotmail.com>
Subject: [NFB-Science] exploring pine trees on Mount San Jacinto

Hello,
I live in San Diego California a few hundred feet above sea level.
I do not often get a chance to touch pine trees which grow in the mountains.
Last weekend on April 20 I went on a hike as part of the Blind Stokers Club
www.blindstokersclub.org<http://www.blindstokersclub.org>.
The club got founded as a tandem cycling club with sighted and blind
cyclists.
It has since branched out and there is now a blind hiking team.

Anyway, this e-mail is mostly about the pine trees I touched at San Jacinto
State Park which is on top of Mount San Jacinto.
Mount San Jacinto is near Palm Springs. It is a 2 hour drive from my home if
you leave at 6 A.M.  It is a 2 to 3 hour drive back home in the afternoon or
evening.

To reach the top of the mountain we took the Palm Springs Aerial Tram.
The cable car starts its trip at 2600 feet elevation and after a 10 minute
journey reaches its destination which is Mountain Station.
Mountain Station is at 8500 feet elevation. As an interesting side note, the
floor of the aerial tram slowly rotates providing an enjoyable view out the
glass walls for sighted passengers.  I joked to a blind friend that it was
so fascinating how the music playing on the speakers mounted on the ceiling
were slowly rotating relative to our position during the ride.
In fact we were rotating and the speakers were stationary but I cannot prove
it.
The tram passes through 5 support towers on its journey from the bottom to
its top.  You can read a lot on Wikipedia about why and how the tram works.
I still have a lot of questions about its engineering design.

Back to the pine trees I touched.  There were two kind of pine trees I came
across at 8500 feet elevation. The two trees I looked at were somewhere
between Mountain Station and the Five Notches Loop Trail. My hike was about
3 miles with frequent pauses for the group to take it easy and enjoy the
day.
The high temperature on the mountain on April 20 was 53 degrees. After
taking the tram to the foot of the mountain in the late afternoon it was 90
to 95 degrees.
One of the pine trees was a long needled pine and the other was some kind of
fir tree.
The needles of the fir tree reminded me quite a lot of the Christmas tree I
get from Home Depot which is a Noble fir.
I do not know what kind of fir tree this was but when I crushed its needle
it gave off a very lemony scent.
The long needled pine is almost certainly a Jeffrey Pine.
A crushed needle from the Jeffrey Pine smelled like a pine tree but not
lemony at all.
Learning from Wikipedia I see that almost noone can tell Jeffrey pines apart
from Ponda Rosa pines.
The Jeffrey pine trees have much longer pine cones than do the ponderosa
pine trees.
Something like 4.5 to 8 inches long versus 2 to 4 inches.
I did not have the opportunity to touch a pine cone while on my adventure.
I read that ponderosa pines do not grow over 7500 feet so almost for sure
the long needled pine was a Jeffrey Pine.
The mountain air on Mount San Jacinto smells amazing like a pine forest.
My sighted friends usually take in the trees just by walking past them.
I request of my friends or family that I stop and touch a few trees of each
variety while on a hike near trees.
On this hike about half the trail was covered in snow or packed ice.  I also
stopped to listen to a rushing mountain stream full of snow melt run-off.
There are very few rushing streams in San Diego. San Diego is a desert area.
I want to thank my friend Evan who organized the trip, provided
transportation for me and others, and who was my hiking guide.
Evan is also the one who helped me find the pine trees to look at.
Very best,
John

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