Day 338: Today I had the privilege of hiking 10 miles in the Tatoosh Wilderness with a good friend and fellow photographer, and incidentally my supervisor at Mount Rainier National Park. Twenty years younger than I am and in much better condition, he kindly allowed me to set the pace in the hopes that we both might be able to reach our goal, the site where a fire watch lookout once stood on the summit of Tatoosh Peak. If the distance seems somewhat short as hikes go, consider that the elevation gain was approximately 4000', given ups and downs in the trail as it dipped into couloirs to avoid steep cliffs. A fair bit of time was spent taking photographs, as you can probably imagine, and my favorite discovery of the day was Grass of Parnassus (Parnassia fimbriata) with its beautifully fringed petals. Although field guides for the area refer to this as a common plant of moist meadows, it was the first time I have encountered it.
beautiful little flower.....wondered if these were showing in the one shot of the wildflowers you posted on Clouds.....the tall skinny-stemmed ones? What a nice long hike :) Aren't we lucky to still be doing it all at our ages?
ReplyDeleteNo, that was mostly Valerian (the tall bits). These were only in one spot where a small trickle of water was coming down amid rocks.
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