The environment near timberline is always harsh, but it is doubly so in the lava fields along the summit of the Cascades. Here at McKenzie Pass there are lots of silver snags in the lava fields. As plants colonize the lava fields, it would appear that the process has a "two steps forward, one step back" nature. This lava is only about 1000 years old, so sometime during that period of time there may have been a period of drought or an episode of disease that killed trees living in the most borderline of conditions.
Ash Creek Images
Photographs of the West by Doug Gorsline
North and Middle Sister, Snags, and Lava Field at McKenzie Pass
