An Afternoon in the Alpine

After arriving in the park (about 10:30) and setting up camp (about 12:00) we drove up to the alpine meadows. The road up is for summer access to a research station and microwave tower, and consequently a little twisty. About 3/4 of the way up is a lookout lot. (Look out!)

Manning Park is a based around several different river systems. Most of the park is deep valleys covered with trees. Across the mountain range is the the Canada/US border.

The lake you can see at the bottom is Lightning Lake. On Sunday morning we walked around that lake. We stayed at the lookout for 20 minutes, watching people disobey the "Please do not feed the animals" signs (the birds and chipmunks were very tame, and there were peanut shells everywhere), and then continued on the drive up the mountain. (David was a little white- knuckled about the rest of the road). Once we got up to the research station (lower lot) we took a short trail up to the station itself.

A few minutes (we could still almost see the car) from the parking lot we saw a Hoary Marmot! The marmot was about the size of a beaver (or very overweight cat) and looked at us up from the edge of the road (20 meters away). The marmot watched us for a few seconds and disappeared.

We passed a bend in the path and the marmot showed up again! The marmot was still some 20 meters away, but then started closer to check us out. (We stood very still.) The marmot was obviously following some game trail, which we found later. The marmot came within 2 meters of us before wandering off on his own trail.

Once we got to the research station (a small, completly unnotable building) we saw a few more parking spots, a lookout, and a few trails. We took the Heather trail right around the mountain.

We were aparently a few weeks too late to see the largest of the meadow blooms, but the flowers that were there were striking.

Hippie Hair! (Local name)