On a warm mid-May morning I hiked for 2 hours on a grasslands-benchland, sometimes known as the Lower Rose area. It was a combination of hiking-exercise and a nature-hike. There were no other people on the trails, but the area is also used by dog-walkers, hikers, and mountain bikers at busier times. there were a few birds in the … Continue reading →
Small-flowered Penstemon (Penstemon procerus) is a perennial in the figwort family. It grows from a woody base and often forms clumps. The green leaves are oval to lanceolate, growing oppositely and a few leaves grow around the bae on short stems. Small purple-blue flowers grow in whorls around the stem. After flowering, capsules form with many seeds. They … Continue reading →
At the start of May I traveled south to Merritt, then up to the Lundbom Lake area. The hike was up Sugarloaf Mountain (open grasslands with south-facing slopes), then back into the hills to hike grasslands hills and mixed forest gullies in a 4 hour loop route. As I hiked I stopped to enjoy wildflowers, flowering shrubs, and … Continue reading →
We did a hiking tour, going down the Fraser Canyon to hike the Stein River and Alexandra Bridge, then continued south to Hope. We chose to hike the Thacker Mountain Trails above Hope, between the confluence of the Coquihalla River and the Fraser River and Lake Kawkawa. The trails were in the Coastal forest with a few open … Continue reading →
We traveled to Lytton, then took the reaction ferry across the Fraser River. We drove to the trailhead at the Stein River to hike upriver in Stein Valley Nlaka’pamux Heritage Park. The mouth of the river is a dry Interior Plateau zone, but as we hiked west, we went through a transition zone to a wetter and cooler area. … Continue reading →
