From an email by Jocie to the Botany Group on August 29.
Summer is drawing to a close, which means it is time to fit in a few more mountain hikes!
Here are a few photos [click to enlarge] from a hike up Crest Mountain in Strathcona Park. On the hike my brother Julian was telling me about the famous German philosopher Nietzsche, who abandoned a cushy position as a tenured professor to pursue the rigours of Swiss mountain hiking. In the mountains, he found new meaning in his life and produced some of his best work. If this sounds interesting, check out this link which has an excerpt from John Kaag’s book Hiking with Nietzsche .
Nietzsche said “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” which we can all remember as we slog uphill in search of interesting plants.
Scenics
- View of Kings Peak.
- Small lake near the lookout.
- Cloud shadows on distant valleys.
Botany
- Slime mould (genus Hemitrichia??) in the forest duff.
- Coast Range lomatium (Lomatium martindalei).
- Western sweet-vetch (Hedysarum occidentale).
- Pacific stonecrop (Sedum divergens).
- Nodding arnica (Arnica parryi). There is a patch about 3/4 of the way up. It was in bloom and I meant to photograph it on the way down, but of course I blew right past it. This is a photo from my last hike up Crest in 2016.
