In the thick of things

What can be found in a thick tangle of brush like this? Well, there is water, and a few rays of sunlight filtering through the trees, and the green things of the wilderness will find and use both, and as you push your way through the foliage, interesting things appear.

Blue Elderberry ~ Sambuscus caerulea

Pathfinder

Clustered Thistle ~ Cirsium brevistylum

Great Mullein~ Verbascum thapsus

Devil’s Club ~ Oplopanax horridus

Enchanter’s Nightshade ~ Circaea alpina

Clustered Thistle

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Think cool!

Two miles up the Spring Creek trail on a hot summer day. Crystal clear, ice cold water cascading down a deep canyon under the canopy of tall, old-growth cedars…

An orchid today

Spotted corallroot ~ Corallorhiza maculata ~ wild orchid

There are always beautiful things to find along the Spring Creek trail, including places on the trail itself:

Along a mile of trail

Yesterday after completing several things that have kept me from the trails lately (and pretty much away from the blog), I leisurely hiked the first mile of the Spring Creek trail (USFS trail #370), retreating from things that had been pressing and enjoying the deep shade of the canyon which was much cooler than the rather high temperatures in the valley. It was wonderful to see the wildflowers and gratifying to see so many species still in bloom.

Oxeye Daisy ~ Leucanthemum vulgare

Water Speedwell, Blue Speedwell ~ Veronica anagallis-aquatica

Pointedtip Mariposa Lily, Three-spot Mariposa Lily, Baker’s Mariposa ~ Calochortus apiculatus

Woodland Pinedrops ~ Pterospora andromedea

Alaska rein orchid, slender-spire orchid ~ Piperia unalascensis

Grand Collomia, Large-flower Mountain-trumpet, Large-flowered Collomia ~ Collomia grandiflora

Lanceleaved Stonecrop ~ Sedum lanceolatum

Sticky Currant berries ~ Ribes viscosissimum

Harebell, Bluebell-of-Scotland ~ Campanula rotundifolia

Pipsissewa, Common Prince’s-pine, ~ Chimaphila umbellata

American Twinflower ~ Linnaea borealis

High Mountain Cinquefoil ~ Potentilla flabellifolia

Cascade on Spring Creek

This small fall in a series that stretches for miles has a drop of about four feet. The creek is running full now from snow melt on Big Hole Peak, 6 miles upstream and four thousand feet above.

Think cool…

Western Montana is currently in the middle of a drought and a heat wave. Our June, the month that usually produces the most rain, gave us none at all and the temperatures have been running nearly 20 degrees above normal, in the mid 90’s to the low 100’s. Early this morning however there was a cool place to be…

Spring Creek