While there's a lot of pine beetle damage on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park, it's a lot less visible on the east side. The only exception, in my experience, is Wild Basin -- which also has a lot of damage.

Of course, dead trees provide an opening for plants that thrive in disturbed habitats. Fireweed is a great example.

So, here is a good example of Fireweed, with some dead and dying trees providing the background. There's a lot of this in the first mile or two of the Wild Basin trail.

August 2009.