Flowers in Manning Park
July and August weekends in the flowers
August 2002:
My cousin was
taking a summer course in
Abotsford so on a Sunday afternoon we drove back to drop him off. The
highway back into Vancouver was already crowded with returning vehicles
so we decided to go the other way - out to Manning Park.
The
alpine environment is
known for being
delicate - footsteps become paths and plants take decades to recolonize
the bare ground. The alpine environment is also known for
it's beauty - acres of flowers come into bloom to take advantage of the
short growing season.
There are a number of common flowers that are seen in the alpine
environment - Yellow Arnica is common in the fields along with purple
Arctic Lupinus, and pink Spreading phlox. Most of the flowers are
short - less than 30 cmn tall unless they find cover behind a tree or
rocky outcropping.
One of my favorite "flowers" isn't a flower at all - it's the fruit
(seed stage) of a flower that blooms earlier in the season.
Western Anemone blooms as a small white flower with a yellow center.
Driving back down to the
midaltitudes, we
saw the trees changing color! Unfortunately, it's not fall and
trees are coniferous. The pine beetle is ravaging British
Columbia and Manning Park is one of the areas being hit.
Apparently the trees need a long cold snap where the temperature goes
blow -30°C. So far it hasn't happened.
July 2004:
In my previous two trips to manning (I visited
Manning Park once camping),
a went up to the meadows in August. I was curious what the state
of
the meadows would be in July. I had a free afternoon and it
looked
overcast (good for photography) so I drove out and took a look.
The
first view pullout (where the road goes from paved to gravel) has a
small resident population of Ground Squirrels and I stopped for a few
minutes to get my bearings.
The meadows at first were a bit underwhelming - I've always seen
pictures of thick fields crammed with flowers and these hills weren't
those crammed fields.
Don't get me wrong - there are nice flowers at the side of the
trail. As you wind your way around, you will notice different
zones (open field, under trees, south facing, north facing have
different populations.
Wandering around the meadows, there is one large
surprise waiting for you - the BC Hydro retransmissions station. I
believe this microwave station is part of the provincial power grid
regulating the generation and distribution of power around the
province. It's also the reason this area is accessible with the
minimum amount of effort it takes to drive up here. I wonder how
much smaller this facility would be if it were build with modern
electronics.
I was a little disappointed I had not seen a marmot. On my first
trip up to these meadows we saw a marmot saunter across our path and my
soft lenses at the time took a
pretty
good pictures, just because this fearless marmot didn't seem to
care we were there. I decided to walk from the upper parking lot
to the lower past a large rock field to see if anything came out.
Surprise - that's where the Marmots live and a marmot came out to see
what I was up to.
Satisfied, I walked back to the car and started the long drive back to
Vancouver. As has happened on a number of other trips this year,
as I descended down to a main road, a grouse made an appearance.
Unlike other trips, I still had most of a roll in the
camera and I decided to get out and take a few photos. From what
I understand most grouse believe their camouflage is nearly perfect and
will ignore people until they are basically right on top of them.
This grouse definitely knew I was there, but somehow decided I wasn't
much of a threat. I was quite happy to hear him hooting.
The drive back to Vancouver is long - I believe the round trip distance
on this trip is over 500km - half way to Calgary if you took the direct
route, but well worth the effort to get out of the city.
Tags: alpine(13), flower(12), flowers(7), shallow depth of field(5), BC fauna(4), plant(3)
From: John Harvey Photo > Flowers in Manning Park
Your pictures of the Western Anemone in it's see stages are amazing. I am always hunting on the internet to find a great shot of that flower at that hippie head stage. I love all your shots. I am a hiker and have come upon them on numerous hikes, but only have a couple pics of them. I love your shots of all the flowers in the meadows. Beautiful..keep up the good work and thanks for sharing your adventures with us all!!!
B Wooman
B Wooman
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 23:07:16
When is the best time to see the alpine flowers? Your pictures are beautiful and I learned a lot about the wild flowers by reading your website.
Cindy
Friday, June 25th, 2010 at 17:33:51
Last Modified Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 00:45:38 Edit
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