At the end of summer I rode the Sun Peaks chairlift to mid-station to hike the trails on Tod Mountain. All of the south-facing alpine meadows, bowls, and ridges were dry and the vegetation was mostly brown after a hot and dry summer. I hiked up through Crystal Bowl to Top of the Mountain, then wound on a single track trail through Whyte Bowl down to the West Bowl Trail and back to the start.
Most of the summer wildflowers were now past and in a seed production phase or past that and withering. there were a few late stragglers in partly-shaded zones and in stream bullies. I took a few photos along the way, some of which are shared here – cow parsnip, aster, orange agoseris, strawberry, yarrow, pearly everlasting, twisted stalk, bog orchids, and red-berried elder.
A Google Photos album grid is included here. Click any image to go to the album and any image again for a caption. Latin names are provided on a page on this website – link.
I hiked the trails on Tod Mountain 4 times over the summer and I will be back for the early bloom in June of 2026.
