Mara Meadows Provincial Park is an ecological reserve “which contains unique calcareous fen ecosystem with diverse flora including rare orchids.”    Access is difficult.   We can drive back roads on the west side or on the south side, but there are no trailheads, no clear trails, and all routes require some bushwhacking.     We tried two routes on the northwest side and got to the swamplands, but id not get to a spot where we could explore the shoreline.   After talking to a local, we tried a route on the southeast side.    It was grown-over and covered with windfall.    We worked our way through the boggy cedar-hemlock forest to the corner of the wetlands where beavers had blocked Violet Creek and larger open pools spanned the low part of the valley.

Along all three routes we stopped to photograph some of the flora and a few are shared here:

• • blunt-leaved rein orchid (Platanthera obtusata)
  • white bog orchid (Platanthera dilitata)
  • rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera oblongifolia)
  • bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata)
  • twinflower (Linnaea borealis)
  • wintergreen (Pyrola asarifolia)
  • black twinberry (Lonerica involucrata)
  • skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus)
  • bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)
  • queen’s cup (Clintonia uniflora)
  • columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
  • red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea)
  • thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)
  • wild ginger (Asarum canadense)
  • sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis)

All photos by the author.    A Google photos album is shared here:

A link is also provided to the album to see the images with captions – Mara Meadows

This area is only suitable with enthusiasts who can navigate difficult terrain.    We nope to return at a time mid-summer to spot some of the rarer orchids.