Last month’s Tour de Coop was so fun and educational that Charis, Chris, Leah, Tori and I pounced on the opportunity to do a similar bike ride featuring trees. It seemed like a particularly good idea considering how I’m a self-professed lover of the Great Outdoors, but am even more of an ignoramus about leafy barky objects than edible feathered friends.
In a span of 2.5 hours, Tim the Tree Guru (employed by the city) taught us about more than a dozen notable big trees in Fort Collins—information that most of us promptly forgot. No worries; I took plenty of photos and in the gallery to the right, noted the names and locations of many of these trees. So you can see for yourself what flower colors a catalpa produces and witness the majesty of a European Larch.
I also put together a short video of the tour with an appropriate tree song. Yay, trees!
Starting out the Bike Tour of Champion Trees in Fort Collins' City Park. Leah is on the left and Tori is on the right.
Felix Wong hugging a 90-year-old Northern Red Oak (a #2 champ) in the Fort Collins City Park playground.
This is a European Larch in City Park, at the corner of Oak St. and Jackson Ave. in Fort Collins.
The tree rings on the ground around the maples are for ease of maintenance (e.g., lawn mowing).
Leaves of a maple tree in the Grandview Cemetery.
A tombstone in the Grandview Cemetery made from a tree stump.
Catalpas had nice white flowers.
This is a Norway Maple at 121 W. Mountain Ave. in Fort Collins. This particular one is a #1 champ.
This is a red elm at 105 S. Whitcomb in Fort Collins. It too is a #1 champ.
This is an Olympic oak tree (probably from Jesse Owen's) planted recently at Colorado State University in honor of CSU alum Glen Morris, who won the gold medal in the decathlon in the 1936 Olympics. More info is here.
Many years ago this tree was hit by lightning, only moments after the tree expert assured the tree's land owner that it was healthy and viable.
On the way home I passed by this car with a bumper sticker that coincidentally said, "Trees are the answer." Maybe they are!
