The freshness of early summer in the temperature zone near the cave changed character on the open plains of the continental steppes to the east. Gone was the rich green foliage that filled out brush and deciduous trees and still betrayed the new season' growth of conifers with needles a shade lighter at the tips of branches and spires. Instead quick-rooting and sprouting herbs and grasses, already chest high, whose youthful verdancy was lost to the drab hue indeterminate between green and gold, stretched to the horizon. Thick, matted, old season growth cushioned their steps as the clans wove their way across the illimitable prairie, leaving his contemporary ripple behind showing the way they had come. Clouds rarely marred the boundless expanse above except for an occasional thunderstorm, more often seen from a distance. Surface water was scarce. They stopped to fill water bags at every stream, unsure if they would find any conveniently close when they camped for the night.
From the book 'Theclan of the cave bear' by Jean M. Auel
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