Helen Lake and beyond, Banff National Park, August 17/09

[Maggi Young]

Ouch! Wasp attack is very unpleasant, Lori .... perhaps you can view your continued posting in the face of the pain as a suitable displacement activity ..... takes your mind off the pain and stops you from rushing out to swat every passing insect in an act of blind revenge.....

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Good to know that even stinging Wasps are not able to stop Superheroes from posting !! 

[cohan]

sorry to hear about the wasp, they are everywhere this time of year-especially bothering the cats eating outside... i've had a lot of collisions and near misses with a multitude of flying insects cycling the back roads here lately, luckily no stings yet...

[Lori S.]

The sympathy helps, thanks.  

1) Helen Creek waterfall... there is an American pipit (which I still think of as "water" pipit) in there somewhere...
2) Above treeline, a hummocky terrain of Phyllodoce mounds, with Cirque Peak in the distance
3) Helen Lake, a nice stop for lunch... people either stop here, or carry on on a switchback trail over the low shoulder of the Dolomites, for a view of barren Katherine Lake on the other side, or slog on up Cirque Peak.
4) On the boggy shores of little Helen Lake, Veronica wormskjoldii...
5) Cotton grass, Eriophorum spp....
6) And Juncus spp.(?)
7) The headwaters of Helen Creek, before it starts to tumble downwards....
8 , 9)  We carried on beyond the lake around the shoulder of Cirque Peak to see what lay out in that direction... with the prow of the Dolomites sailing towards us, and with distant Mount Hector seeming to sneak ever closer, by some strange trick of the light and the foreshortening effect that seems to occur in the mountains!  (By the way, on the second photo of Mount Hector, if you zoom in, you can see the spindrift of fresh snow off Hector Glacier on the left side of the peak.)
10) Erigeron aureus, in seed... it has been really quite amazing to see as much in flower as we have for this late in the season... all thanks, I assume,  to that very late spring and no significant frost yet up there.

[Lori S.]

1) Above the lake...
2, 3, 4) Exploring some slabby quartzite outcrops... fascinating geology in this area, with much juxtaposition of lithologies (which I am attempting to learn more about).  (If you were to zoom in on the last one, you'd be blinded by the sight of me wearing both sweatband and toque, looking like an idiot... so take my word for it... just don't.)
5, 6, 7) Growing in the fractures in the quartzite, Penstemon ellipticus.... the first with somewhat unusual leaf shape(?), the others as I am used to seeing them.  
8 ) Wave ripples, preserved on bedding planes in the quartzite...
9)  It is still possible to find Saxifraga bronchialis in bloom, here and there...
10) A pond in the increasingly austere setting - murky-looking in the photo but actually the water was crystal-clear; the impression of muddiness is due to the colour of the blue-green algae that blankets the bottom.

[Lori S.]

This is the photo from the last comment, above.  (Couldn't load it there, for some reason.)

[Lori S.]

1) Back in the rocks...
2) A little survivor in a protected niche, and Sedum lanceolatum.
3) Hoary marmots - an extremely good area for them, it seems.
4) Many rocky meltwater drainages crossing the tilted plateau...
5) Bordered by Saxifraga lyallii
6) And a population of very-dwarfed Oxyria digyna, no more than 3" high...
7) Many Epilobium spp. enjoying the ample water... (I'm working on keying these out!  Hints are welcome!)
8 ,9) Sibbaldia procumbens, still in bloom
10) Epilobium mirabile ?

[Lori S.]

1) Exquisitely formed and coloured leaves of Petasites vitifolia, along the rocky meltwater drainages.  The backsides of the leaves are felted white.
2, 3, 4) Haplopappus lyallii
5) ??
6) More Erigeron aureus, in full bloom higher up.
7) Moss garden.
8 , 9) A seemingly barren landscape, interrupted by splashes of purple bloom...

[Maggi Young]

So many great flowers , Lori, I'm fascinated to see the range of plants.
The landscape, while rather stark, has a simple beauty but I wouldn't want to get caught there in bad weather.

[Lori S.]

1, 2) Revealed, as we approach, to be bands of Epilobium latifolium.
3) Solidago multiradiata?
4) And as I have been absorbed in looking at the elegant barrenness and the sparse plants, it seems Crowfoot Glacier has been creeping up on us too...
5) Ahead to the cirque and the couple of bands of old snow still hanging on in it...
6) Saxifraga oppositifolia, not long out of bloom up here...
7) Plant life has thinned out drastically...
8 , 9, 10) Crepis nana... lest one gets the impression that these are substantially-sized plants, the second photo shows my hiking pole handle, for scale...

[Lori S.]

1) The Dolomites, from here in the cirque...
2) Saussurea nuda, still in bloom...
3) Erigeron compositus
4) A Silene acaulis mat that looks as though it has had an interesting history.
5) Salix reticulata... I think?
6, 7) A tiny-leaved Salix... my ring, in the second photo, is 16mm in diameter, for scale.  (My reference suggests that S. reticulata has the smallest leaves, but the other leaf characteristics don't seem to fit it.)
8 ) Alpine grasses
9) Castilleja spp.
10) And, Maggi, it did look as though the weather might be turning... though it soon passed.

[Maggi Young]

A Silene acaulis mat that looks as though it has had an interesting history

Yes, doesn't it just!  Looks like a  complete wee island in a rocky sea.
Extraordinary just how diminutive so many of these plants are and what tiny bursts of colour they bring to their surroundings.

[Paddy Tobin]

Lori,

This must surely be one of the outstanding threads we have had on the forum. You are showing us an area of amazing natural beauty and a range of the most interesting plants. It brings to mind the great reports we have had from our New Zealand members who bring us in the Northern Hemisphere an insight into areas we are most unlikely to visit.

These experiences are the riches of this forum. Many thanks for taking the time to take, edit, add comment to and post such an interesting and informative photographic report on your mountain ramblings. Truly enjoyed and appreciated.

Might the little mystery plant by an aster of some description?

Paddy

[Maggi Young]

Exquisitely formed and coloured leaves of Petasites vitifolia, along the rocky meltwater drainages.

This foliage is just terrific... sculptural and painterly, all at once


Paddy, I agree, a great thread 

If the plant on question is Solidago multiradiata ? IMG_9187.JPG then I do think it is a Solidago, rather than an Aster.

[Lori S.]

Thank you, Paddy and Maggi!  I'm glad it's of an area that is special to you, Paddy, and I'm very happy that you're enjoying it!

Yes, Paddy, #9166 may very well be an aster, thanks... (that's exactly what I was debating - aster?, erigeron?)  Thanks for the confirmation on the solidago, Maggi.

Alright, let's see if we can take this one on home...
1,2) This was the extent of "beyond" for today, the head of the valley... though of course there is always the next ridge to climb to see what's on the other side... some other day, maybe?
3) Meltwater, ponding here and there, while also seeping through the rocks...
4) To join a creek that feeds into Helen Creek down below...
5) Descending slightly, Phyllodoce glanduliflora...
6) A golden phyllodoce... I can't tell which species without flowers... but I'm sure if I took cuttings, successfully propagated them, found them to be true, cultivated a market where they can be grown (not here!)... Ha, all so simple!... I'd be RICH... RICH, I TELL YOU!    And then could spend all my time loafing around in the mountains.    
7) And rejoining the trail back near Helen Lake, a view in the distance of big avalanche tracks off the Dolomites... these are the areas of light green low vegetation, as opposed to the darker green tracts of alpine fir.
8 ) A dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) in Helen Creek... amazing how these smallish birds can spend the winter in the mountains, diving into icy water for food!!  (Hmm, "mexicanus" - how odd!)  
9) And meadows on the way down, with spires of alpine fir...
10) Caltha leptosepala, in a trailside rivulet...