Alberta Wanderings 2010

[Gerdk]

Cohan, Thank you once again for describing the conditions where Viola canadensis grows - pretty pink variation indeed!

Gerd

[cohan]

you're welcome, gerd
i will show you one more site (not tonight) where they are in a more open place, and a lot of plants growing together; this is the other pink site; i also know them from a place which is more shady, with  spruce; but quite likely in that case, they were growing in open woods, and the spruce grew up and made it shady!
i looked for some seeds on the pink ones last year and did not find any, but maybe now that i found a bigger patch i can get some....

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Thanks for taking us along on your tours Cohan ! 
Not exactly the circumstances we're used to out here in crowded Belgium ! 

[cohan]

Thanks for taking us along on your tours Cohan ! 
Not exactly the circumstances we're used to out here in crowded Belgium ! 

thanks, luc! most of the places i ride around here, there is a farmstead (the part with the house etc)  every half mile to mile at most (i use miles, because the roads are on a grid- 2miles apart north/south, 1 mile apart east/west), sometimes closer, and sometimes across the road from one another, so i pass buildings often enough, but usually don't see any people (and i hope to not see dogs  ); if i'm riding for a couple of hours, i will usually be passed by a small handful of vehicles..so yes, overall, quite peaceful!

[cohan]

saturday, we did one of our typical sprints into the mountains west of here;
this time, we went all the way to Jasper, Alberta, a round trip of about 760km; we left home about 7:15 am, and got back by 9pm..
full albums will be on picasa as i get them sorted and edited (starting from 650 pics) and i'll just put a few highlights here..
first album is the start of the day, and first, short, stop..
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsJune262010A#
1 not far from home, this is the view up the highway toward the town of Rocky Mountain House, where i work, and where we stopped for breakfast (take away!)
2 about 20 minutes driving west from town, the foothills biome in full effect, and the terrain begins to lift a bit more
3 our first stop, for last check of tires etc; of course i used the time to botanise, useless thing mechanically that i am!
4,5 the pull out was just before a stream valley that the road crossed; the ground and vegetation were sopping from possible overnight rain, and heavy dew
6 Lotus corniculatus a pretty weed, not very common in this part of the province; i wonder if i should look again at this spot in a season or two??

[cohan]

just up the embankment into the woods...
driving along, i'd been seeing large areas of Ledum groenlandicum in flower--i can't say carpeted, it's not that dense, but still impressive; especially since here, the plant is fairly common in the wetter parts of woods, but flowers rather poorly, usually.. this and the vacciniums seem much lusher and more floriferous in this area than at home; i suspect higher rainfall and maybe better snow cover; not sure if there are other issues..

as was to be a repeating theme for the day, the flowering was not as dense where we stopped as it had been along the way, but you can get a rough idea....
1,2 Ledum groenlandicum
3 Vaccinium myrtilloides i think, blueberries; when i was a child my grandfather would occasionally pack the whole family out west for the day to pick blueberries--or attempt to-the crop is very variable depending on current and past year's weather!
4-6 Vaccinium vitis-idaea bog cranberries; we have these not uncommonly at home, but rather sparse looking by comparison...

[cohan]

continuing deeper into the mountains, we pass the only (small) town in the region,  Nordegg, coming back from near extinction as a mining community, reinventing itself as a tourism centre..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordegg,_Alberta
good possibilities, i guess, as the area is largely 'undeveloped' compared to areas around the park centres such as banff, jasper, etc.. notice how empty the highway looks in most of my photos, and this is a saturday in summer..note that most campsites are busy, however...
the last of these shots is near the dam end of Abraham Lake, a reservoir for a hydroelectric dam, and beginning of the Kootenay plains, a distinct environment within the montane zone..

full album here:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsJune262010B#
note: these shots, as many of the 'view' shots are taken from inside the moving vehicle, usually through the glass, so there will be blurs, blobs and other oddities

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Breathtaking views Cohan !!! 
Wish I could do a "hop" into the Rockies every now and then !! 

[cohan]

thanks luc it is great to be relatively close..

[cohan]

those of you have followed my jaunts in past years may remember this spot:a roadside viewpoint
alongside manmade Abraham Lake, in the montane zone of Kooteny Plains;
(in season) always nice plants here, between road and (drop off to) lake..my friend is always worried about me stumbling around eyes to the ground near the steep edge of the slope, nearly always fierce winds here...
this time mostly peas in flower, as its early for some of the composites..

edit: as usual, full album-
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsJune262010C#

1-3 parking and views; one of the first large pull off areas for some distance on a long stretch of road with few to no services; often a few cars, empty at this moment...
4-6 Oxytropis sericea or monticola? the only distinction i know of is blooming time, which must be variable by site and altitude?
7 another Oxytropis
8 Oxytropis splendensjust starting, but the forms in this zone seem more wool than flower compared to flashy plants i have seen pics of..still great looking plants

[cohan]

second part of that site..
1 Anemone sp multifida? not that clear yet on the separation of these several sp; of course flowers weren't fully open..
2 unnamed little cress
3-4 Rosa sp at home its all acicularis; this doesn't seem so prickly, but not sure of the others.. woodsii?
5 Tragopogon another weed, but not seen often enough (by me) outside of urban areas to be really fretful..

[cohan]

next site is just up the road, still along Abraham Lake;
full album here:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsJune262010D#
the highway is cut through a little hill, rock rising on both sides, and this turnout goes up that hill, between the lake and the highway, and you can't see the place from the highway, so we had never stopped there until by chance last november.. it looked interesting, and i knew i'd have to come back in summer!
part of the site is nearly bare rock, with larger plants and trees in the spots with deeper soil and where moisture gathers..overall this region is dry, and the spots on the bare rock are very exposed to constant wind, very cold winters with probably not much snow cover, except around the trees.
1,2 views
not surprisingly, the plants on the rock include some seen more typically at higher elevations, such as the
3,4 Dryas integrifolia (i think, based on the mostly smooth leaf margins, teeth only on lower part); finished flowering, unfortunately; usually at this altitude, you only see Dryas drummondii; i also saw a tiny Saxifrage, finished flowering, which amazingly i seem to have not photographed!!
5 Androsace chamaejasme finished flowering in the exposed spots, still going in the shadier places behind the trees
6,7 Erigeron caespitosus? tiny tight clumps in the open, a bit taller in the more protected spots; ranging from white to palest purply pink; in the second shot, note all the even tinier plants huddled around the Erigeron, in shelter of small rocks-Androsace, Antennaria, even a tiny
8 Draba? to the left that i didn't notice in person it' so small!
9 Packera cana fairly common in this dry region
10 Hedysarum boreale with leaves of Packera; able to survive some pretty harsh spots, but plants larger and more floriferous where it gets more water...

[cohan]

same site; in more 'meadowy' sections-still dry- plants such as
1,2 Linum perenne bringing pieces of the sky to dot the meadows blue, and
3 Lilium phildadelphicum with its characteristic flashes of fire, on short stems here
4 Gaillardia aristata just starting, this bud shot was more interesting than the one opened but not very nice flower i took..
full album:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/cactuscactus/AlbertaRockyMountainsJune262010D#

[christian pfalz]

hello cohan, nice gaillardia aristata, do you have seed from
kind regards
chris

[cohan]

hello cohan, nice gaillardia aristata, do you have seed from
kind regards
chris

thanks, chris no seed yet, they were just barely starting to flower, and i didn't get any seed from this one last year; if i get back to that area at a suitable time, i will let you know..
i do have seed of some of the small erigerons from last year...