Sparrowhawk

Friday's hike... With half again as much snow last winter as usual, there's more snow remaining up there than we've seen before, and the bloom is a couple of weeks or more late, but still lovely.

I usually miss these, but with the delayed bloom this year, here's Saxifraga oppositifolia:

Cassiope tetragona:

Paradise (at least when the weather's good, LOL!):

A little meltwater stream...
By this time, the moist banks are usually covered in Lyall's saxifrage in full bloom... but not yet, this year. Instead, we were "early" enough to see the forerunners, thousands of Claytonia lanceolata in bloom.

What a fantastic trip!

Anemone parviflora:

It surely was!

Silver rockcress, Smelowskia calycina, is very prominent in the moraine/rock falls here:

Just an interesting (if fuzzy) shot:

A little cutie, Erigeron humilis:

A substantial mat of Saxifraga bronchialis:

A close-up, for appreciation of the nifty red, orange and yellow spots, LOL!

One last shot of the tarns...

And heading for home...

What is the day temperature like when you go on a trek like this? I was listening to our public radio, a man was being interviewed about hiking in the U.S.'s Glacier National Park. He remarked how weird it was, having to swat mosquitoes when snow was still on the ground.
I never would have thought . . .

On the close up of Sax. bronchialis (truly nifty, BTW), I see most of the anthers seem to be missing from the stamens. Are insects absconding with them?

It was "a hot day" back at home (26 degrees C; 79 deg F), and "very warm" up there at 22 deg C (72 deg F)... hey, all things are relative! It is much more usual that we are compelled to break out the jackets, and often the pants too, once the uphill bit is over, but we held off this time (was only a bit cool while we sat to have lunch). Yes, there were a few mosquitoes...

No idea what happened to the anthers on the sax! Very observant!

Thank you for another lovely tour! I'm as amazed by your knowledge of the
plants and terrain as I am in love with the subjects in and quality of the photography.