Trail Log 1995-1997 - Lamar at Colorado State University

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the Black Sea. Danube starts in Germany, and is second longest river in Europe (Volga in Russia
is longest, flows into Caspian Sea).
Returned to Ljubljana and were joined by others. We drove south to karst topography at Skocjan,
n.w. of Postojna. The region is called Karst, and karst topography takes its name from this region.
There is one of the heaviest rainfalls in Europe and the limestone (and dolomite) rocks are
honeycombed with tunnels and openings dissolved out by ground waters; much of the drainage is
underground. Large sinks abound, some of them five or six hundred feet deep. Streamless valleys
are common and valleys containing streams often end abruptly where the streams plunge into
underground tunnels. Though there is a lot of rain, the water runs underground quickly and the land
is left dry and relatively barren, or at least unproductive for agriculture. The collapsing rock leaves
some very steep cliff walls. We walked around in wooded areas perhaps an hour and a half,
descending to a river where it cuts through a cliff-cave. Mild day and some left-over wildflowers still
in bloom. Unusual racks for drying hay are quite tall, high as the roof of a house, and they stack
a thin rack of hay to dry quickly in this region of heavy rainfall. Harald Plachter, from Germany, a
botanist, was good with the flora. The landscape architects with us knew the topography well. The
region is also famous for caves.
Continuing, on to the Adriatic coast, of which Slovenia has only about 40 km. Croatia got most of
the coastline. We lunched at Izola, with a big platter of various fishes from the Adriatic. We also
visited Piran and Portoroz. Vegetation here is Mediterranean: olive trees, cyprus, cedar.
Cyclamen hederifolium, seen in bloom wild in the woods, something like a Dodecatheon, shooting
star. Acer campestris, field maple, and Pinus nigra, black pine, are common trees.
November 12, Sunday. On flight out, Sunday, the southern Alps seen nicely from the air. The
higher points are covered with snow, but all the lower slopes are quite clear. Flew to Frankfurt, then
to Helsinki.
Paul Davies and Bob Gibbons, Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Southern Europe. Ramsbury,
Marlborough, UK, Crowood Press, 1994. £11.
Mitchell, Alan and John Wilkinson, Trees of Britain and Northern Europe. London: Collins. Collins
Pocket Guide, 1995 and earlier. £10.
November 13-14, Monday, Tuesday. 1995. External International Examiner, the "Opponent,"
at Ph.D. Thesis Defense, held at University of Helsinki, Finland. Thesis: The Varieties of
Intrinsic Value in Nature, Leena Vilkka.
November 17, 1995. Visiting Distinguished Lecturer, "Ethics Gone Wild," American University,
Washington, DC, McDowell Conference on Philosophy and Social Philosophy, Jeffrey Reiman,
Coordinator.
December 2-5, Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon.
Adult bald eagle perched in tree, about four miles before arriving at Denever International Airport,