We hiked from Lightning Lake to the summit of Frosty Mountain in Manning Provincial Park and we took photographs along the way, a few of which are shared here.

Near the outlet stream saskatoons were still on the shrubs and we spotted a chipmunk feasting on the berries.

chipmunk on saskatoon

In the open areas by the trail, a few agoseris seedheads had not yet been dispersed by wind.

agoseris

At several points along the trail, leafy lousewort (pedicularis racemosa) was in flower, with pale yellow or pink pink petals.

leafy lousewort

In the alpine zone, we spotted a number of golden asters, a seldom-seen flower in the Interior of B.C.

Cusick’s speedwell (vernonica cusickii) is sometimes spotted in Cathedral and Manning Parks and we were very pleased to photograph it near the trail.

In the Interior we don’t often see meadow saxifrage and it certainly wasn’t abundant in the subalpine zone on Frosty, but we saw a small number in flower.

meadow saxifrage

Spotted saxifrage is much easier to identify.   It was frequently spotted, mostly on wet rockslopes in the upper subalpine and alpine zones.

spotted saxifrage

In the broken rock below the summit, several alpine sorrel (oxyria digyna) were in bloom.  It is more commonly seen in the Arctic, but may be found in the tundra zone of peaks in the Interior.   It is edible and nutritious.

dock (rumex)

On the way down we stopped to observe velvet-leaved blueberry.   In the Interior we more often see the lower-growing varieties.

Sunlight was shining through mantles of witch’s hair lichen on the evergreens in the lower forests.

witch’s hair

Near the bottom we saw several prince’s pine (chimaphila umbellata) in flower.    These low-growing shrubs bloomed in openings in the mossy evergreen forest.

prince’s pine

Many more photos were taken, but I am only featuring the better images and the less commonly-spotted varieties.    I also saw arnica, wintergreen, agoseris, partridge foot,paintbrush, groundsel, asters, pussytoes, daisies,  goldenrod, lupines, harebells, sandwort, bedstraw, buckwheat, and more.   The star of the day was, however, the larch trees in the upper subalpine zone.

larches

This was a long hike – 22 km, with some more difficult terrain at the top.    A rewarding hike, but a tiring one.

cascade beardtongue (penstemon serrulatus)

We will be back to hike in Manning Park next summer on different trails.