From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on September 4.
Apart from Alison’s lovely photos of Paradise Meadows, we haven’t delved into subalpine/alpine plants much this summer. So, here is a blast of the mountain flora.
I went backpacking with my kids to Bedwell and Cream Lakes in Strathcona Park from August 18–20th. We camped at Baby Bedwell and did a day hike to Cream Lake. I hadn’t done this hike for quite a few years, and in my mind the terrain was more level and easy (funny how that is). It was a rough, rocky uphill slog! In short, my kids have vowed to never backpack again, but I think they will get over it.
Despite the dry summer the Cream Lake area was full of lush blooms. It’s an area that has late-lingering snow and seems to have quite a lot of water. Even the blueberries were plump. We were lucky to see an enormous black bear plowing through the berries (a slight trail detour but no big deal).
Here are some of the plants and views (part 1). Click a photo to enlarge it. More to come in a second instalment.
- View of Bedwell Lake and Mt. Tom Taylor
- Lewis’ monkey-flower (Erythranthe lewisii)
- White pasqueflower, or “tow-headed baby” (Pulsatilla occidentalis)
- Olympic aster (Eucephalus paucicaptitatus)
- Western sweetvetch (Hedysarum occidentale)
- Alpine sorrel (Oxyria digyna)
- Mt Septimus view, with western columbine (Aquilegia formosa), cow parsnip (Heracleum lanatum), and harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)