This old trail has been de-commissioned by the Forest Service but it still exists and I walk along parts of it when I can. Something of interest seems always to be there.
Fireweed ~ Epilobium angustifolium
Thimbleberries (Rubus parviflorus) are ripening
Thimbleberry blossoms (From my archives)
Pinedrops ~ Pterospora andromrdea
Pinedrops are saprophytic perennials, without chlorophyl or green leaves. You have to look closely at them to tell if they are newly blossoming or dried from the previous year.
Northern Green Bog Orchid ~ Platanthera huronensis
(These photos were taken during a hike to Blossom Lake in the Evans Gulch roadless area in western Montana on August 31, 2011. Though late in the year, there are still several species of wildflowers in full bloom there.)
Subalpine Spirea ~ Spiraea densiflora
Scouler’s St. Johnswort, Norton’s St. Johnswort ~ Hypericum scouleri
Pinedrops are saprophytic perennials with unbranched flowering stems, fleshy at flowering, then turning fibrous and persisting as dried stems for over a year. (Saprophytes do not have green leaves or contain chlorophyll and cannot manufacture their own food and therefore do not depend on the sun. Instead, they obtain their food from decaying material in the litter and humus and are usually found in the deep shade of mature coniferous forests.)
Montana Outdoors 