On a mid-October day I drove up the Lac du Bois Road to the upper grasslands and did a nature hike in the Lac du Bois Conservation Area. I started at the south end of the old Stony Lake Track, a double track first used by homesteaders for ranching, starting in 1890. It has been leased for grazing ever … Continue reading →
Fringed Grass of Parnassus (Parnassia fimbriata) is a perennial found in damp sub-alpine areas in the BC Interior. It grows from short, fibrous roots. Several stems rise to as much as 30 cm. Broad kidney-shaped basal glossy green leaves extend at low angles. Single terminal flowers have 5 white petals, fringed with white hairs below. In the middle … Continue reading →
At the end of the first week of October I returned to hike to a spot I had found in the spring, a damp meadow in the Lac du Bois sagebrush grasslands, just outside the park. I had found a number of wild asparagus plants, and with this in mind, I hiked the route again. I found three … Continue reading →
On a morning in the first week of October I did three loops at Stake Lake. I kayaked around the lake twice to start with, then I secured the boat and hiked a loop route on the Stake Lake trails. The hike on the forested trails was quiet and peaceful with no one else on the trails I … Continue reading →
At the end of September on a gray day, I drove up Rose Hill Road to Scott Road. I hiked Scott Road out and back, through the soon-to-be Juniper Hills Grasslands Park. After a hot and dry summer, the grasslands slopes were in fall colors and there were few wildflowers along the way, except for a few weedy … Continue reading →
Blue clematis (Clematis occidentalis) is a climbing vine found mostly in mixed forests in Western Canada. In our drier climate, it often grows in mid-elevation gullies, winding around and climbing up shrubs. The woody stems can grow to 2+ meters high with support, or as a trailing vine, even longer. The leaves on the stems are situated on long stalks … Continue reading →
At the end of summer I hiked a loop route across the grasslands benchlands off Rose Hill. The silt-sand-clay ridges and gullies were once under a glacial lake and were scoured by meltwaters as the ice and snow melted. Much of the area is covered by grass and sagebrush, but the upper north-facing gullies have some trees and … Continue reading →
Ghost Flower (Monotropa uniflora) is a fleshy saprophytic perennial in the heath family. Other common names include Indian-pipe, corpse plant and ice plant. It has no green leaves, does not produce chlorophyl, and can’t photosynthesize. It takes its food from decaying material on the forest floor. Fleshy white stems may be whitish-pinkish at first but turn white, then black. … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) is a perennial which grows from a long taproot and a woody base. Basal leaves appear in spring, but wither in summer. Fleshy pinkish showy flowers appear on short stalks, mostly hiding any linear leaves. The flowers have 15 narrow petals and 6 to 9 sepals. Small seed capsules form in summer. The flowers open … Continue reading →
