Harney Peak is the highest point in the Black Hills. It is also the highest point between the Rocky Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. A trail leads up to the peak from Sylvan Lake, one of the most beautiful spots in the Black Hills. The trees here are mostly Ponderosa Pine.

Shooting Star

The Little Devil's Tower is a massive stone formation that actually is near the Harney Peak Trail. At the lower level the Little Devil's Tower Trail is a mixed aspen and spruce forest.

Aspen is an important colonizer, the first to come up in areas destroyed by fire or logging. It is also a nurse tree and provides shelter for pines and spruce that grow more slowly in its shadows.

Kinnikinnik (Bear Berry)

Aspen groves are found though out the Black Hills. They are often along the forest edges or transition zones. There are natural stone "sculptures" everywhere. During a gentle summer breeze the trees keep up a constant forest conversation as their leaves wiggle back and forth; because of this they are called quaking or trembling aspen. The movement is due to the way the leaf blade is attached to the stem. Aspen are members of the poplar family and as such are related to the cottonwood, another common tree of the Black Hills but one generally found at lower elevations. In the hills the aspen are often associated with pine and spruce and during the winter its white bark stands in beautiful contrast to those dark evergreens.

Found along streams and creeks aspen becomes a favorite food of beaver who also use the wood to construct their dams. 

At the lowest edges of the hills are cottonwood groves. They are generally found along river and stream beds. The trees were often transplanted to locations along roads, this set here is along a farm road in the southern hills.

They are a sturdier for of the poplars, a group that includes the aspen. In the hotter lower elevations they are an important source of shade and under them many children and animals shelter from the summer sun. They are often found mixed with green ash, another important tree along creeks and streams. Both trees blaze with yellow in the autumn.

Where there is plenty of moisture paper birch and aspen grow together. They look similar, the most apparent difference is the birch tend to grow as with multiple trunks, the aspen tend to be single.

In their shade may be found many shrubs, most commonly chokecherry, roses and raspberries.

This is just a few yards from the cottonwoods shown in the summer grouping in #4. It's along the southern edge of the Black Hills along a country road. There along the Cheyenne River cottonwoods are the dominant tree. This scene I caught by surprise while camping. I got up one morning just as it was starting to snow. In a few hours everything had a five inch layer of wet snow from an early spring snowstorm. I have visited this site many times and hope to do additional paintings showing the various moods.

"A Forest for the Trees #07:
Sunrise, Ponderosa Forest"
Acrylic 24x48

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The drier regions of the Black Hills are dominated by the Ponderosa Pine. Where they grow close together they tend to be straight and tall. As the space between the trees opens up the trees grow larger and become more pyramidal in shape. When they first come up the seedlings can form dense masses of small trees called dog hair. In the competition for light most will die out and the forest will open up again.

A transition zone, in the open area is a grove of aspen. Behind the viewer would be a dense spruce forest. The aspen grove is inviting whereas the spruce grove, especially the denser stands, is quite foreboding. The transition zone, where forest gives way to grassy meadows is a wonderful place to find deer and wildflowers.

Bluebells

Walking at night through a ponderosa forest, a peaceful experience. A walk on a moonlit night with a snowy reflective ground can be a beautiful experience.

As for the blessing, well, all living things deserve a blessing. It is far too easy for us to forget that trees are living things and in the Black Hills the Ponderosa Pine and the White spruce are the largest living creatures to be found.

This painting has been modified and is now used as one of the Christmas paintings. A painting is never "finished" until it is sold.

"The Deep Woods"

The wetter areas of the hills have many spruce trees. They often have mossy material hanging down from them. The spruce can form dense stands where almost nothing else grows. along the edge of their groves the spruce are intermixed with other trees, most often aspen. The ground will have oregon grape, snowberry and occasionally even orchids.

Violet (above)
Striped Coral Root Orchid (right)

Northern Black Hills southwest of Lead (pr: leed), SD. An old gold mining town next door to the much more famous Deadwood, SD. A high altitude area. The name of the town of Lead refers to a gold mining term.

Blue Flag Iris

"A Forest for the Trees #12:
Recovery Zone, Jewel Cave National Monument"
Acrylic 24x48"

FKB1304

Anemone

This was an extra painting included with the original show.

The Cheyenne River runs across the southern end of the Black Hills. Cottonwood seedlings often sprout up in its sand and gravel areas and surrounding flood plain. Those at the higher levels will eventually grow into beautiful trees but the lower area of the nursery is "scrubbed" clean by the higher waters that come with regional downpours.