Life on the Outer Coast

Sunday, July 8

Yesterday the Agers and I joined the Sitka Trailworks trip to Mt. Edgecumbe. The forecast for Saturday was not encouraging, so I packed my raingear and anticipated a soggy hike in the clouds. Hurrah for the uncertainties of weather since it turned out to be a good day for shorts and sunscreen.
The boat left the dock at 6:45am with 23 people including the Hunters, the designated leaders. Leaders only in the sense that they took responsibility for getting everyone off and back on the boat and giving a brief orientation to the trail. I haven't hiked up a Mtn this summer without seeing at least one of the Hunter family.
We had a nice time botanizing along the trail, I managed to find someone who gets more lost in the flora than even I do. Nothing like an unfamiliar flora (or one known mostly by its pollen) to entice a person. I did notice a few plants that I wouldn't have if I hadn't been going at a slower pace, eg. Myrica gale and Rhyncospora alba. How I managed to miss the Myrica the last time I was on this trail is a little mortifying, but I was being chased up the trail by alot of speedy women. The Rhyncospora stood out nicely in the lower muskeg since it was blooming. I even attempted to take a few photos with a borrowed camera, but alas most of the photos were quite deletable.
Apargidium boreale was abundantly blooming. It was more visible on the way down the mountain in the afternoon after a morning of sun. The Erigeron peregrinus was also blooming. The color varied from dark purple to white and we briefly tested the idea that color might be related to maturity. We decided to rate maturity based on blooming of the disc flowers, but first had to decide if they bloomed from the outside in or the other way around. After some looking around we settled on the outside to inside blooming pattern, but definitely couldn't find a consistant relationship between color and maturity. I still wonder about the youngest flowers particularly those in the shade, they do seem to be the darkest purple.
Also collected a bicolored Pedicularis from the muskeg, I'm feeling pretty comfortable about calling it P. parviflora because of the flower structure and branching, but it seems unlikely that it is an annual or biennial. I'll bet on a short lived perennnial.
Re-collected the Juncus that I found last year. It's a beautiful plant often with red stems that grows in the muskeg ponds. I'm tentatively calling it J. stygius, but I'd like to do some measuring under a dissecting scope.
Alot of the muskeg ponds were dry, and the muskegs themselves seemed a little on the dry side as well. I was able to keep my feet dry in my very low tech tennis shoes even with lengthy wanders in the muskeg. The Nuphar polysepalum looked a little sad laying limp in the cracking mud. Riminds that I definitely need to find the Nymphaea this summer. I vaguely remember the directions I received.

The Dodecatheon jeffreyi still had a few flowers, but I didn't notice any pollinators. Saw some bluets and a few larger dragonflies, but didn't have the time (we had to be on the beach at 5pm) to loiter over insects and plants.

Found Pinquicula vulgaris, Elliotia pyrolaeflorus, and Phyllodoce glandulifera blooming near the shelter. Thelypteris limbosperma was growing along the trail in the pockets of trees from the shelter on.
Just past the tent platform, the Agers decided that they weren't going to attempt to make the summit, so they sent me on alone. I stopped at the 0.6mile marker to unload the excess baggage from my pack, ate some chocolate and carried on into the clouds.
On the way up saw in bloom: Castilleja parviflora, Pedicularis oederi, Cassiope mertensiana, Viola langsdorfii, Veronica wormskjoldii, Ranunculus cooleyae, Carex nigricans, Vaccinium uliginosum. Also found Diphasastrum sitchense with strobili. The mix of colors of the leaves of the Vaccinium spp. and Cassiope was really quite nice, alas no photo. I had to kick myself over leaving my binoculars by the marker, as there were some light breasted sparrows in the shrubs on the slope of the scree. All I could see was the light breast and some sort of marking on the top of their head. I remember doing this last year too, maybe next time I'll remember the binoculars.
Collected two fruiting mosses, a piece of the liverwort mat and another (?) liverwort growing on a small rock. The latter is probably the same liverwort that makes up the mat, Gymnomitrium apiculatum. The summit was still in the clouds when I was up, but I could see that there was still snow in the crater. Someday I'd like to have enough time to walk around the crater. I'd also like to explore Crater ridge and the northwest side of Edgecumbe. No idea how crazy an idea that is though.
Came back out of the clouds about 300ft above the marker and rejoined the Agers who were busy exploring the tundra vegetation near treeline. I'm not sure what time we left treeline (maybe 1:30), but we didn't get to the beach until 5:08pm. We weren't the last down, but I didn't feel good about making people wait.
Tom collected a peat sample for pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating from an exposure on a slump at the edge of the long muskeg. It will be interesting to hear what they find.

Saw juncos, chickadees, hermit, swainsons and varied thrushes, robins, a yellow warbler and a very upset Yellowlegs along the trail. The poor yellowlegs was alarming for about 20 minutes while the group wandered it's way past the muskeg where it must have had a nest.

Had to indulge in a very hot bath and some serious stretching after this 14 mile hike. It was easier this year than last, but I probably still need to keep climbing if I'm going to see the poppies this summer.

4 marbled murrelets on the way home.