Leslie Patten Books: Wild Places, Sacred Spaces

I’ve got a new microscope and am having fun bringing flower samples home to view them.  Its a lot easier than using a hand lens.  My method is simple:  a small plastic baggie with a paper tower.  If I find samples, I wet the towel and wrap the plants.  They’ll stay viable for days until I remember to extract them from my daypack.

While looking for wildflowers, I had some unusual wildlife encounters.  Last week I disturbed a grizzly in his day bed, but he was a good bear and just ran off.  But today I was ‘mobbed’ by a Goshawk whose nest was nearby.  She was quite aggressive, dive-bombing me over and over again on my way up the trail.  But on the return, she was even more pissy and came quite close–I suppose thinking I hadn’t learned my lesson the first time.

Goshawk nest

Goshawk resting during dive-bombing me

I also saw my first porcupine.  Koda was a little ways up the trail from me peering around the corner.  He stopped and was wagging his tail.  I  knew something was up. Thankfully, he decided to just stay put instead of investigate.  I think he learned his lesson when he saw the grizzly bear last week.  I was able to capture the porc waddling away.

Porcupine waddling away

Sand Lily

Twisted stalk

Unidentified mountain flower

Pedicularis

Valerian

Woodland star

Unusual to see a white pasque flower

Round leaved Alumroot

Western meadowrue male flowers

Musineon tenufolium/ Wild Parsley

 

Meadow of Larkspur and Woodland star

Common twinpod

Nineleaf bisuitroot

Subalpine fir new cones

Sedum sp.