On the Skoatl Point Trail
In early September I drove a long ways on backroads, deep onto the Bonaparte Plateau to hike the Skoatl Point Trail. Much of the forest in Bonaparte Plateau Provincial Park was burned in the Sparks Lake Forest Fire in 2022. We went up to hike the trail in 2023 before the trail was reopened and we faced an obliterated trail and black forest. We knew the general route and picked up pieces of the trail. Near Adler Lake, the area is a wet zone, so the trees were not burned, but winter winds had felled many standing trees across the trail, so we had to go around, over, or under many trees. We did make it to the top of Skoatl Point and back, but it was a more difficult hike. The trail was reopened for 2024 so I ventured into the backcountry for a solo hike to Skoatl Point.
After a year of clearing and succession growth, the trail was easy to see, but fireweed and pinegrass had grown tall among the burned trees.
Down by Adler Lake, there were a few wildflowers and many plants fruiting, like twisted stalk (Streptopus amplexifolius).
A few images are shared here in gallery. On top of the basalt columns on the summit of Skoatl Point only spreading saxifrage and stonecrop were found.
In the forested and burned areas was lots of smooth blue aster (Symphyotricum laeve) and some common liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha), baneberry (Actaea rubra) a couple of lupines (Lupinus sericeus), and slender hawksbeard (Crepis atrabarba) Pollinators were active on most parts of the trail.
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