# Forest Pictures!!



## Sheilawisz

This thread should have been posted several hours ago, but my Internet connection suddenly collapsed, my cat was driving me crazy and after that I had to go to the supermarket... Anyway, now it's time and I want to share my forest pictures with you.

I call it Raven Forest. It's just a thirty minutes drive from my city, the place is wonderful and I love hanging out there with my friends =)

These pictures were taken yesterday, during a visit to one of the forest lakes with my parents:








First picture: That is part of the hiking and camping areas nearby Cedral lake.







Second picture: Camping area, a little higher than the previous image. You cannot see the lake in this picture because of the trees. Elevation: 9200 feet above sea level.







Third: A view of part of Cedral lake, image taken during a brief period of cloudy sky. If you look carefully, you can see one of the zip lines that cross the lake.

More pictures coming tomorrow!!


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## Reaver

It's spectacular! Thank you for sharing these, Sheila.


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## ThinkerX

Hardly any underbrush!  No devils clubs! How unlike the immense untidy forest I dwell in...


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## Asterisk

Gorgeous! It must have been so inspiring for you to be there. Forests (especially the ones by rivers and lakes) drive me crazy with the urge to write. I think it drives my family crazy too. XD


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## Sheilawisz

@Reaver: No problem!! I have loads of more pictures to share.

@ThinkerX: Well, the truth is that Cedral lake has been fashioned as a tourist attraction. That's why it seems so tidy, hardly any underbrush as you have realized... other parts of the forest are wilder, full of underbrush and huge rocks everywhere.

@Asterisk: That's right, you understand how I feel about forests!! They inspire me a lot, and I always have forests in my Fantasy worlds.







Another view of the lake, taken from the higher camping areas. Do you see that big rock in the distance? I have been up there.







Here you can see a trail, the lake and also the roof of a little shop. They sell food, beer and other curious things, also renting boats if you want to row in the lake.

More pictures coming soon...


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## Sheilawisz

Finally, the Zip Line video... Flying across Cedral Lake:

[video=youtube_share;iPkAE9mc8VQ]http://youtu.be/iPkAE9mc8VQ[/video]


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## Chilari

Wow, those are stunning. It looks like such a peaceful place to spend an afternoon. Why are the trees painted white at the bottom though?

Also that is a wicked long zipwire. Very cool going right across the lake like that.


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## Sheilawisz

Thanks for your comments, Chilari =)

Well, not all the trees are painted white at the bottom, just a few of them. That's not paint really, but a special substance that is used to repel pests like ants and other creatures so they will not cause damage to the trees.

They say that Cedral Lake's zip line is the longest in the entire national park, but I am not sure about that. Dad heard somewhere that they have a project to build an even longer zip line, and if that is true, I cannot wait to take a ride in it too!

The place is perfect for spending the afternoon, but it gets bloody cold at night...


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## ThinkerX

The zipline ride looked interesting.  My brothers and I tried making one a few times when we were growing up, but we could never get the wire taunt enough - always sagged in the middle.  Instead we made tiny 'tree forts' and had some long rope and tire swings, one or two of which took a person way out over the lake.  (Homestead is on the shores of a large lake.

And yes, Sheila, of course it would get cold up there at night, that high in the mountains, even in the warm clime you dwell in. Around here, the mountain tops have snow on them even in mid summer...and...hmmm...call it 100 kilometers or so to the south and east of me is an actual ice sheet, a left over from the last ice age.  Places like that are cold and windy all the time.


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## Sheilawisz

ThinkerX, I would really love to see some pictures of Alaska if you want to share, Alaska is facinating.

That's part of the magic of high altitude. My city is a bit lower than the forest (about 8000' here) but that's enough to have cold nights all year, and even freezing nights in Winter even though the latitude here is only 20ÂºN. The constant wind is part of life too, and I am so used to it now that I would miss the wind a lot if I moved somewhere else.

Do you happen to live nearby Lake Iliamna??


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## Steerpike

I want to go to Alaska.

Maybe we need to have a Mythic Scribes meetup in Alaska


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## ThinkerX

> ThinkerX, I would really love to see some pictures of Alaska if you want to share, Alaska is facinating.



PM me an email address.  I got a few picks I took around here, mostly winter ones.



> That's part of the magic of high altitude. My city is a bit lower than the forest (about 8000' here) but that's enough to have cold nights all year, and even freezing nights in Winter even though the latitude here is only 20ÂºN. The constant wind is part of life too, and I am so used to it now that I would miss the wind a lot if I moved somewhere else.



Figured you were a ways up in the mountains.  Didn't know it was THAT high, though, thought maybe 3000 - 4000 feet...1000 - 1300 meters, maybe.



> Do you happen to live nearby Lake Iliamna??



East of there.  Western Kenai Peninsula, in the town of that name. Folks homestead is about 20 miles not quite due north.



> I want to go to Alaska.



Not sure why...but come on up.  You probably don't want to visit in the winter, though. Winters here are long, cold, and dark.  A foot plus (30 -100 centimeters) of snow on the ground from mid November to mid April, with odd shots of snow before and after. This year, the snowpack hung around until mid May.  Temps...+20F to +40F (0C give or take a few degrees with a very high chance of snow (annoying) or rain (very dangerous) at the warm end, down to weeks on end of -15F to -25F (whatever that comes out to in C) and generally clear skies.  And DARK - a lot of the time, it is still completely dark at 9:30 in the morning and dark again by 2:30 or 3 in the afternoon.  

Which is when and why I write, among other things, as I get to be outdoors in this.  Used to do winter stuff (skiing, snow machining, ect), but anymore that'd land me in traction.



> Maybe we need to have a Mythic Scribes meetup in Alaska



That could be interesting.


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## Ireth

Steerpike said:


> Maybe we need to have a Mythic Scribes meetup in Alaska



I'd never survive. Winters in Manitoba are bad enough; it's not uncommon to get down to -30 C, or even -40 with windchill. >_<


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## ThinkerX

> I'd never survive. Winters in Manitoba are bad enough; it's not uncommon to get down to -30 C, or even -40 with windchill. >_<



Actually COLDER than my corner of Alaska...though about on a par with Fairbanks.

But Manitoba is great plains country, and as the saying goes...

'nothing between you and the north pole but a couple of barbed wire fences...and they're fraying'.


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## druidofwinter

Love the pics! Must be great hiking there! For me Forests and fantasy are very closely related. Whenever i'm in a forest i feel like i could be in another world. I have made sure to have a forested country in my world, and writing there is always a joy. BTW, Have you ever gone out on the lake?


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## Sheilawisz

My Fantasy worlds are always full of forests, Druid.

There is something very strange in that forest up there. My friend Angelica believes that there are things like gnomes or who knows what, and the energy there is so powerful that, when we return to the city, it feels like a travel between different worlds.

In answer to your question, I have been rowing in the lake sometimes. It's not allowed to swim (maybe because the water is cold?) but anyway, after watching _River Monsters_ I would never _ever_ swim in any river or lake!!

More forest pictures coming soon...


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## Sheilawisz

I have visited at last the Las Ventanas valley of the forest, enjoying its beauty in a one-day travel with my parents yesterday.

The valley (and almost all of the forest) was full of fog, a perfect opportunity to take many pictures. I was exploring the camping and rock climbing areas, but my real intention was to climb all the way up to the Las Ventanas summit, which is perhaps the highest point in the entire national park...

Some pictures to share with you:



















The first picture shows part of the camping grounds, while the two others were taken during my trek up to the higher parts of the valley. The cold, mysterious fog all around me added a magical effect... I was sure that Frodo and Gandalf were about to show up any moment!!

Pictures of the West Summit coming tomorrow =)


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## Sparkie

I get a feeling of inspiration just looking at these pics.  I can't imagine what it's like to actually walk in that forest.  Thanks for sharing!


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## Sheilawisz

Thanks for your comment, Sparkie =)

I can tell you that most of the forest has a very positive, friendly atmosphere. There are other parts that give you a creepy feeling, or so says one of my friends... There are stories about dark magic rituals and stuff taking place at certain parts, but I have never been to those places.

Today, the pictures of the West Summit:







First picture- After a long walk between the rocky formations, finally the West Summit becomes visible amid the magical fog.







The view to the South from the West Summit. Do you see the small hills and those white spots in the distance? That's my city.

My Altimeter's reading at the West Summit: 3070 meters- 10073'.







View towards the North, which lets you see the other rocks, fog between the trees below, the forest road and also part of the valley's camping area.

East Summit pictures coming very soon!!


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## SeverinR

Sheilawisz said:


> ...



I love the pics, But I can't see the forest for all those trees.


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## Sheilawisz

You are correct Severin, sometimes there are so many trees up there that you cannot see the forest =)

Today I share with you two pictures of the Las Ventanas East Summit, but first, this is the story: I had no idea that there were two summits at the valley, and when I reached the West Summit I was sure that I was standing at the highest point of the national park.

Then, the fog dissipated a little and I discovered that there was a slightly higher, steeper and rather dramatic summit to the East... and I thought: "What, now I have to climb that one?"

First picture: The East Summit seen from the West:








There is something eerie about the East Summit. I calculate that it is some twenty meters higher than the West, and the entire thing is about the size of a thirty stories building.

I tried to climb it and managed to reach about half the way up, but in the end, realizing that the wet, slippery rock could send me crashing down to my death any moment, I decided to retreat...

The view from the top must be wonderful, and the next time I visit Las Ventanas I am going to climb it!







The East Summit, seen a little closer this time. I have other pictures of this rock seen from the camping grounds, but I want to post those tomorrow.

Comments are appreciated!!


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## druidofwinter

Looks great Sheilawisz! Reminds me of something you might see in Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. The fog might have cut down the visibility, but it definitely gives it a fantasy "look" What time of day were you there?


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## Sheilawisz

Hey Druid, thanks for your comments.

We were at Las Ventanas between 11:30 and 13:50. The fog was already passing when we left, and many people were getting ready to depart after spending the night at the valley.

When I see my first picture of the East Summit, I imagine a great, black dragon landing on the rock and resting there some time, exhaling purple fire and spreading its wings. I have the idea for a Fantasy world that would be composed entirely by forest and rocks with eternal fog, that would be so beautiful =)

A last picture of the great rock, taken from the camping grounds:







I promise that, when I finally get to climb the East Summit, I will share the pictures in this thread...


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## ThinkerX

because Ms Sheilawisz  keeps expressing interest, am because others may find it of some interest...

East and West sides of Cook Inlet, edge of the civilized lands on the one side, literal trackless wilderness dotted with camps and tiny villages on the other.

First off, the area on both sides is heavily forested.  Like the forest in the rest of the state - and most of the state is wooded - there are just four types of trees: Alder, Birch, Cottonwood, and Spruce.  You see anything else, somebody planted it. All of these tend to be stunted by the standards down south: alder rarely tops 4 meters in height, and the trunks are typically only a few centimeters thick.  The other trees seldom top twenty or twenty five meters, and while the trucks of the older cottonwoods may be as much as a yard thick, the trunks of the birch and spruce are rarely thicker than 40 centimeters or so.  At the moment, spruce is far and away the most abundant, but it is also perishing rapidly due to a beetle infestation.  (Said infestation could have been stopped decades ago by intensive selective logging, but enviromentalists groups balked at the concept).  Smaller vegetation includes various types of brush, ferns, thorny plants (especially 'devil's club), and an assortment of berry bushes, ranging from  cranberries to rasberries to strawberries.  And mushrooms, though I know little of those. There are also warnings about poisonous plants, including 'monks hood'.

There has been a great deal of oil and natural gas development on *both* sides of Cook Inlet.  Many (male) members of my immediate family have spent a lot of time in the camps and villages of the West Side.  Likewise, so have many of my friends.  The norm, all to often, is to live on this side of the inlet, and spend weeks on end working on the other. 

Down through the years, I've picked up an assortment of stories and anecdotes. 

Cook Inlet runs north - north-east.  The mountains (many of them occasionally active volcanoes) on the far side run north and south, leaving a large slab of triangular flat land.  The triangles third side, more or less, would be the Susitna river. As to camps and villages, from north to south: 

Beluga is, or rather was, a power plant situated in the midst of a coal and natural gas field that supplied Anchorage with much of its electricity.  These days, its in the process of shutting down, though there is active interest from abroad (Asia) in the coal deposits.  One scheme I heard of involved taking the coal to tidewater view a twelve or fifteen mile long conveyer belt.  Beluga is also on the 'Beluga Highway', a gravel service road not on most maps, which connects the site with other camps in the region.

Trading Bay is a sort of 'hub' for the camps.  Its also where my relatives have spent the most time.  Used to be a bar/eatery there called 'Fat Alberts'.

Tyonek is a native village (athabaskans, if memory serves) of a few hundred.  Not reputed to be a friendly bunch. 

Drift River is a pipeline terminus to the south of Tyonek, where the mountains finally intersect the shore.  The site had to be abandoned some years ago because of massive flooding.  For a time, it was feared we were looking at a world class environmental disaster.  The site is still abandoned, though there is debate about reopening it.

Chinitna Bay is a camp of a different sort: a summer camp used by commercial 'set netter' fishermen.  One of my childhood friends, long deceased, spent most of his summers over there as a boy.  I'm told many of the trailers and rude shacks over there have been replaced by nice houses...but it is still an isolated part of the world.

South of Chinitna Bay is Iliamna Bay.  The only place of note there  is 'Williamsport', which is where one finds the narrow road leading through the mountains to Iliamna Lake.  This road is typically used by heavy duty vehicles towing trailers with large fishing boats upon them: its easier, apparently, to take this route over the mountains and follow the river from Iliamna lake to the fishing grounds of Bristol Bay than to brave the storm tossed waters about the Alaskan Peninsula (I get to listen to reports of missing and sunk boats in THAT region rather frequently).  Sometimes bodies or debries is found months or years later.

Anyhow, the road from Williamsport eventually reaches the village of Pile Bay on Illiamna lake. From there, a rough track continues to Pedro Bay.  Note that while there are other settlements these are all *villages*, with populations in the low three digit range at most.  Apart from them and a few isolated lodges, cabins, and camps, there are no people.  Lake Iliamna itself is around 70 miles in length by about 25 miles wide, with imposing mountains to the north, east and south.  West, the land turns into a sort of treeless swamp reaching to Bristol Bay. There are isolated reports of some sort of lake monster in the water and more isolated reports of a sort of 'bigfoot' type creature in the wilderness.

North and east of lake Iliamna is Lake Clark, extending NE for about forty miles, and a bit under ten miles across.  Like Iliamna, it is surrounded by mountains, save to the west, which is merely rugged, heavily forested wilderness.

In the region between the two lakes is the proposed site of one of Alaska's great controveries at the moment: the Pebble Mine, a truly gargantuan open pit mine if ever completed.  There are frequent 'for' and 'against' articles about this project in the press.  The project has been mired in permitting issues for most of a decade now with no end in site.  I find myself skeptical of the claims made by both sides here; too many things unsaid or glossed over.  If built, the mine would be connected to Cook Inlet by an all weather road (though in my view a rail link would be a better option). 

North and east of Lake Clark is a narrow, harrowing pass through the midst of the regions most rugged mountains: Lake Clark Pass.  While there is a path or winter snow machine trail through this gap, it is most commonly used by aircraft.

Think I'll call it quits there before everybody falls asleep.


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## Jabrosky

Tropical rainforests, also known as jungles, are without a doubt my favorite kind of forests. They're wonderful for inspiring adventure stories like _King Kong_ or _Jurassic Park_. When I spent my childhood in Singapore as an expat, I absolutely loved gazing at the jungle that grew beyond the highways, wondering what kind of mysteries the luxuriant vegetation concealed.


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## Svrtnsse

To me it's all about the coniferous forests of the north. They trigger my imagination and fill me with awe.

None of the pictures are taken or drawn by myself, but they serve to illustrate what I mean:





Random pine tree forest.






Winter forest. Note the tiny little hous up the hill.






Princess Tuvstarr as illustrated by John Bauer.


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## Sheilawisz

It's time to bring my Forest Pictures thread back to life!

I was up at the Las Ventanas valley just recently, in my birthday. The place is really beautiful, it was quite sunny at that part of the day and I ended up taking loads of pictures with my Panasonic Lumix camera. This time I did not climb all the way up to the West Summit, but it was great anyway... these are two of those pictures:






That's a part of the fascinating meadow that is well looked after by the Las Ventanas staff, since it's the camping area. If you leave that part of the valley, the forest becomes very wild and dangerous immediately. You can see the East Summit in the background, it's a really huge rock.






That's what the forest looks like a short distance from the camping meadow.

Las Ventanas is the name of the huge rock, and also the valley in general. This is part of the El Chico National Park in the Pachuca mountains, Hidalgo state, Mexico. The elevation at the meadow is 3000 meters. That day, I climbed a little to an elevation of 3037 meters while the East Summit reaches around 3100, all according to GPS readings under a clear sky.

It's warm during the day, and freezing cold during the night.


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## Chessie

I love forests! Thanks, Sheila!

Alaskan forests:


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## DragonOfTheAerie

Why had I never seen this thread before??!?!?!! 

I absolutely love forests. Sadly I don't get much of them...


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## skip.knox

Ghost Forest of Nienhagen


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## Malik

As you drive west from here, the forests get progressively darker and more tangled until you hit the Olympic Peninsula, which has a massive temperate rain forest. Giant moss-hung trees, waterfalls. Otherworldly. I've done a lot of writing out there.


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## Malik

One more, for perspective:


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## Miskatonic

The Hoh Rainforest is one of the few places in WA I have yet to visit.


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## Chessie

More Alaskan boreal:


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## ThinkerX

Ah, devils clubs, bane of the Alaskan wilderness...

Later this winter, my nephew and I will be taking a look at the wild woods on the back side of the folks homestead.  Hadn't been back there since I was a teenager.


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## Chessie

There's some Cow Parsnip in the top picture, too. There's prime bear territory in all of those images. -_-


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## skip.knox

More than once I've thought there should be a picture collection specifically for fantasy writers. I can't tell you how many times I've gone looking for what a chestnut forest looks like, or a beech forest, or ... well, pretty much anything except conifers, which is about all we get here in the Intermountain West. And aspens.

For that matter, let's have a video library: wolves, foxes, elk, other animals.

And another one for flowers, complete with notes as to generally where they can be found.

Another lifetime's work, this.


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## ThinkerX

skip.knox said:


> More than once I've thought there should be a picture collection specifically for fantasy writers. I can't tell you how many times I've gone looking for what a chestnut forest looks like, or a beech forest, or ... well, pretty much anything except conifers, which is about all we get here in the Intermountain West. And aspens.
> 
> For that matter, let's have a video library: wolves, foxes, elk, other animals.
> 
> And another one for flowers, complete with notes as to generally where they can be found.
> 
> Another lifetime's work, this.



Suggestion:  Go to one of the local 'wilderness' type parks - or in some states, the bigger 'rest areas.'  Look around a bit.  About a 50-50 shot you'll find one of those big woodsy outdoor bulletin board things with pics of the local plant life, including the more exotic stuff.


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## skip.knox

Sure, and thanks for the suggestion. Alas, the flora and fauna here in the Intermountain West is more or less the same for, well, for hundreds of miles in every direction. Changes west of the Cascades, but that's still heavily coniferous. The stuff I want is European; just now, Mediterranean.

But I keep thinking a library of stuff would be a great resource for fantasy writers, especially for the more exotic-looking plants and animals. Yes, we can do a search and come up with it, but a central resource would be great. Just incredibly laborious to assemble.


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## Chessie

I just realized that there are no winter pics of Alaska, so here!


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## Chessie

The bottom pic is my house.

LOL jk! I wish!


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## Nimue

skip.knox said:


> More than once I've thought there should be a picture collection specifically for fantasy writers. I can't tell you how many times I've gone looking for what a chestnut forest looks like, or a beech forest, or ... well, pretty much anything except conifers, which is about all we get here in the Intermountain West. And aspens.
> 
> For that matter, let's have a video library: wolves, foxes, elk, other animals.
> 
> And another one for flowers, complete with notes as to generally where they can be found.
> 
> Another lifetime's work, this.



This might not be the magical tome you're thinking of, but something popped up on a writing tumblr about visual dictionaries.  A lot of the features would be superfluous, but they do provide visuals for a lot of objects, and names their parts, which can help one's specificity.  A quick search didn't turn up anything that looked visually great to me--photos would be better than a lot of these illustrations--but maybe something along the line of a visual or photographic dictionary or encyclopedia might be worth a shot for you?


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## DragonOfTheAerie

You guys are giving me an awful case of wanderlust. I look out my back window and see a back yard surrounded by neighbors and their houses and cars and fences and electric lights. I open my window and I hear traffic. I've lived in this place for almost half my life and I ache to leave. Heck, I wish I could even visit Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, etc etc...

Civilization is a spiritual desert for me.


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## TheCrystallineEntity

^I agree. I think I'll relocate myself from civilization for awhile, and as for society? I've been avoiding it for most of my life.


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## skip.knox

But society is wonderful. It's humans, and we are fascinating creatures.


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## DragonOfTheAerie

skip.knox said:


> But society is wonderful. It's humans, and we are fascinating creatures.



In very small, controlled doses


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## ThinkerX

DragonOfTheAerie said:


> You guys are giving me an awful case of wanderlust. I look out my back window and see a back yard surrounded by neighbors and their houses and cars and fences and electric lights. I open my window and I hear traffic. I've lived in this place for almost half my life and I ache to leave. Heck, I wish I could even visit Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, etc etc...
> 
> Civilization is a spiritual desert for me.



Texas or Arizona?


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## Reaver

skip.knox said:


> Sure, and thanks for the suggestion. Alas, the flora and fauna here in the Intermountain West is more or less the same for, well, for hundreds of miles in every direction. Changes west of the Cascades, but that's still heavily coniferous. The stuff I want is European; just now, Mediterranean.
> 
> But I keep thinking a library of stuff would be a great resource for fantasy writers, especially for the more exotic-looking plants and animals. Yes, we can do a search and come up with it, but a central resource would be great. Just incredibly laborious to assemble.



Check with Black Dragon.  Perhaps we can create a permanent forum here for a compendium that all members can contribute to. 

****EDIT****

I'd also recommend suggesting such a great idea in the Suggestions and Feedback forum.


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## skip.knox

Possibly. A forum isn't quite the right venue; a wiki would work better. With images, we need to create searchable tags.


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## DragonOfTheAerie

We could start a MS wikia where we combine all our knowledge and research. 

Or we could get together somehow and write a book of essential fantasy writer's knowledge


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## skip.knox

Can't be just a book because it needs to have lots of images plus video. Could be pictures and words if we just stick to trees, but then I start thinking about all the other millions of things in that place known as the Universe of Things.


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