Forgetmenot Ridge, Kananaskis Prov. Park, Alberta

[Lori S.]

We did our first real hike of the year on July 3 to Forget-me-not Ridge, in Kananaskis Provincial Park, a 45 minute drive from home.  (Whatever complaints I have about this place, it is handy to the mountains!  With all the snow of the past winter and the very late spring, we thought it best to choose an exposed, dry ridge.  (There are still patches of snow down at the trailhead at our usual Canada Day glacier-lily hike route, so it is certainly snowbound higher up.)  

It's a short, grueling hike up to the ridge... a straight-up 760m elevation gain on a very steep trail, gained after a bone-numbing crossing of the Little Elbow and Elbow Rivers.  (There is actually a bridge a few hundred meters further along... but that would take away from the whole experience of righteous suffering...    The water is only knee-deep, if one chooses the right places to cross... though it's fast and cold.)  Well, despite the rigour of the hike, it really is a favourite... it's so close and can be done in a few hours, so we tend to do it 3-4 times during the season.

The gravelly-cobbley braided flood plains of the rivers are covered, where temporarily stabilized, by mats of Dryas drummondii (1) and lots of Physaria didymocarpa (not yet in bloom there).  We got to appreciate the former, just starting into bloom while sitting to put on our boots for the hike...

2) The next interesting sight, still in the flats, was a pair of wild horses... well, not very wild, obviously!  These guys seemed to be wondering if we'd happened to bring any carrots with us.  We passed within about 20' of them... we'd paused to let a couple of horsemen go on just before us, and it may be that these yearlings (or so they were said to be by the horsey folk) were interested in their horses (well, horse and mule), but they were certainly unusually unafraid, at any rate.  (We saw wild horses in the general area once before, and they were very shy.)  Well, this part of the route is called "Wild Horse Trail"...  

[Paul T]

Lorri,

So is the Dryas dummondii a spreading plant, or is the mat formed from lots of seedlings?  The leaves are rather pretty, but not for some reason what I was expecting to go with that flower.  They're lovely plant, by the look of it.

Thanks.

[Lori S.]

Hi, Paul.  D. drummondii spreads by layering (rooting) of the woody branches...  They do produce loads of seeds, as well, and they are omnipresent in the lower elevations in gravelly areas such as road cuts and flood plains, where they can form huge mats.  The flowers don't open any more than what is shown in the photo.  The leaves are glandular and rather sticky.

3) And, sparing you all any more graphic indications of the agony of the actual trudge, here's just a couple of shots of the way up...    The upper parts of the trail go through loose platey limestone shards that sound like crockery as they clink together...

4) And almost gaining the ridge...

5) And a well-earned view from the top!  The Elbow and Little Elbow Rivers are seen in the near distance, and they join to the right (and eventually wind through Calgary).

[Paul T]

Lori,

Thanks for the extra info.  Those plates certainly looks dangerous underfoot.

[Lori S.]

6)  Looking off in the other direction, the true summit (of what is just a ridge) is the point in the distance... a really fascinating area of conglomerate boulder fields.  It's about 1060m acckk! 760-ish m elevation gain to there (from the trailhead), but the sky was looking iffy (and I was not feeling overly energetic), so we were happy to just wander the lower ridges at about 2200m elevation.

7, 8, 9) As did "Wild Horse Trail", "Forget-me-not Ridge" lived up to its namesake... Myosotis alpestris.  (They are actually a little darker, richer blue than shown... my camera does not capture it.)

10) Once again, we are too late for Saxifraga oppositifolia!  A very harsh environment there, judging from the condition of the specimens of this species, which were, however, quite plentiful.

[Lori S.]

11, 12, 13) The ever-present (in habitat) Silene acaulis, with some colour variations... (and you will probably notice that most of these buns are snuggled into mats of the even more common Dryas octopetala.)

14, 15) Dryas octopetala, and a very stellate-flowered one... possibly just with more mature flowers.  (I wondered if the second might be D. integrifolia, but I did not look closely at it, and I'm not sure from the photo if the leaves are different.) 

[Paul T]

The Dryas octopetala is a pretty thing, isn't it.  Up until here on the forums I had never seen "short" Silene species, only taller, often weedy, species.  Your Silene looks so much like a Dianthus to me (sorry if that is insulting to the Silene collectors out there.  ).  So much to learn.

[Lori S.]

16, 17, 18) One of the best reasons to climb this ridge... these fabulous potentillas!  (Try as I might, I still can't confidently put a species name to these. I have it "narrowed down" to 6 species, based on habitat.  Any suggestions?)

19) And another different very hairy species... possibly P. ovina?

20) Oxytropis podocarpa... colourful seedpods to follow.

21) Minuartia austromontana... quite populous, and noticeable right now, though they are tiny.

22, 23, 24) Rhodiola roseumintegrifolia (or Sedum rosea, whatever the current name)... the first plant shows toothed leaves, and the second, entire leaves, and the third is one of the "rare" yellow-flowered forms.

[Lori S.]

25, 26) Snowbank on the north side of the ridge; a small flock of gray-crowned rosy finches (Leucosticte arctoa) were feeding on insects on the snow.

27) Saussurea nuda (behind the Silene acaulis).

28) We were early enough for some drabas, another genus I have not learned... Draba ssp.

29) Smelowskia calycina

[Martinr]

Thanks again Lori, good to see a number of circumpolar plants in the same associations they can be found in Scotland.

[cohan]

great spot with a lot of great species! love to see those compact high altitude plants..
that orangey rhodiola is the real prize winner for me!

[Paddy Tobin]

Lori,

You are treating us very well these days with your interesting reports though, I must confess, I have some concerns re your mental state - anyone who wades through two rivers simply because it seemed to be the thing to do when there was a bridge closeby seems to me to have some issues!!! And you then went scrambling over that loose stone!

I particularly liked the photographs of Dryas drummondii which has lived with me on a raised bed for many years. It is certainly a shrubby plant and over the years as it has spread around I have pruned it so that it doesn't smother smaller nearby plants. It takes to this pruning/training with ease.

The rhodiola looks lovely. As it grows in the same conditions as the dryas, I must give it a try here.

Many thanks for the interesting posting. Paddy

[ruweiss]

Lori,thanks for taking us to these beautiful places and showing
us this fine vegetation.Please keep up the good work.

[Lori S.]

I have some concerns re your mental state - anyone who wades through two rivers simply because it seemed to be the thing to do when there was a bridge closeby seems to me to have some issues!!! And you then went scrambling over that loose stone!

Paddy, I appreciate the concern , but the time to worry about my mental state is when I don't want to wade creeks and grunt up mountain sides, LOL!  I guess we just do it because we can (some day we will not be fit and willing)... and it's just fun! 

(By the way, it's only a "scramble" if you have to use your hands...  )