September Ramble

Day 353: Yesterday, my friend Maggie and I celebrated the season's end by taking a short hike to Dege Peak above Sunrise. Maggie had finished her seasonal term in the Park and I'd worked in some capacity or another for ten days straight, so you might have thought we'd go in town for a movie or something, but that's not the way of those of us who love the outdoors. It was the proverbial "busman's holiday," and cool temperatures, a slight breeze and grey skies provided near-perfect conditions for the walk. The only thing missing was a view of the Mountain, its dominating figure almost entirely hidden beneath a dark-bottomed cloud.

The brooding skies provided an additional benefit of ideal light for photographing Harebells (Campanula rotundifolia), a subject which invariably glares under any ray of sun. These delicate flowers are one of the signature species in the subalpine zone and can often be found in groupings, their bells pendent from thready stems and trembling in the lightest current of air. They frequently persist right up until first snow, as if trying to hold the last traces of summer sky. For us, they rang out September and the season's close.

Asarum Caudatum, Wild Ginger

Day 198: What began as two friends planning an outing to witness Corallorhiza trifida at a single location developed into a field trip for four and some serious botanizing. Maggie Webster and I had scheduled a short excursion for the morning, but when Yonit and Leon Yogev called to say they were in the area, I suggested that they might like to join us for what could well be a once-in-a-decade observation of the rare Corallorhiza. The trip was rather loosely organized, and Yonit and Leon eventually tracked Maggie and me down at a secondary spot, one at which I had found the species last year but not yet in 2016. By the time they arrived, Maggie and I had located five more specimens. To her delight, Yonit found a sixth we had overlooked. Meanwhile, Leon was engaged in learning about lower-forest trees and how to differentiate spruce from fir by examining the shape and texture of the needles.

The Yogevs left us at that point, and Maggie and I continued up the road (partly on foot) to investigate a report of a washout, clambering through the section of collapsed roadbed and going a little further on. At our turnaround point, we discovered Wild Ginger in bloom. It is one of my favourite wildflowers. The unusual flowers of this low-growing plant are concealed beneath its heart-shaped leaves. Each blossom bears three long "tails," as described in its scientific name, Asarum caudatum.

On the return hike, I was pleased to discover several nice colonies of Pilophorus acicularis (Devil's Matchstick Lichen) near the washout. This find was perhaps the "youngest" incidence of P. acicularis I have spotted to date, colonization having occurred less than 20 years from the time the rock was exposed.