Life on the Outer Coast

A short series of fortunate events including; a bloom status tip from Roland, a vehicle pick-up by Steve and finding two willing companions, Molly and M. B. , resulted in a pleasant hike from the Harbor Mtn. parking lot to Gavan Hill trail head.
The weather wasn't exactly suitable for long distance views, the clouds never did lift, but the close up view of the flora was glorious. The leaves were covered with fine drops of water, but the flowers were still open despite the very low clouds.
The snow was gone between the parking lot and the junction between the Gavan trail and the Harbor mtn trail. Before the trail junction, the Anemone were mostly done, but the Dodecatheon jeffreyi were looking and smelling great.
Past the junction the meadows were lush and impressive (enough superlatives?) the in bloom list included: Castilleja unalaschensis, C. parviflora, Geranium erianthum, Aconitum delphinifolium, Erigeron peregrinus, Fauria crista-galli, Heracleum maximum, Aquilegia formosa (the flowers seemed extra large), Saxifraga ferruginea, Hiericium triste, Pedicularis verticillata, and P. sudetica (didn't check this one), Cornus suecica, Cassiope mertensiana, Harrimanella stelleriana, Phyllodoce glandulifera, Luetkea pectinata, Geum calthifolium, Valeriana sitchensis, Veronica wormskjoldii, Viola langsdorfii, Polygonum viviparum, Fritillaria caschatcensis, Veratrum viride, and Trientalis europaea.

Most of the Carex I saw in the meadows looked like Carex macrochaeta. One of my favorite alpine grasses, Phleum alpinum was blooming in the meadows.

The Gentiana platypetala, Senecio triangularis and Artemisia weren't quite open yet, there may have been one of each of the latter two species blooming. Ranunculus cooleyae was done.

Also saw several Cryptogramma crispa and a nicely annoying willow. So far it looks like Salix ovalifolia/stolonifera. The leaf reticulation isn't deep enough for S. reticulata, the pistils are glabrous so it can't be S. arctica. I'm not entirely satisfied with the identification and could change my mind.

Past the shelter, there were still several large areas of snow. Hopefully, for Ian's sake more of the snow will be gone before the race. I can't really imagine running up the hill, seems almost as foreign as playing an instrument.

The lichens on the boulders were intriguing, but I'll go back for those on a later trip, there's only so long I can make my friends wait while I dilly-dally.
Saw hummingbirds, juncos, and a couple of sparrows that I can't quite squish into anything. The sparrows lacked streaking, but had a strong breast spot, a dark crown and a lighter eyebrow. Binoculars probably would have helped, but they were in the car. Alpine sparrows seem to be my achilles heel.

Saw some bear scat and a few deer tracks.

10 marbled murrelets yesterday, 7 today.