Life on the Outer Coast

July 5th



Last night the lodge was awash with rumors of Harrison Ford. How could I sleep?


As we were staying in Bartlett Cove for another night, Martin, Ingrid and I decided to walk the the trail to Bartlett Lake. Brave of me in my wellies to chase after a pair of "fast walkers" in trainers. I was fulfilling my role as a colorful semi-local with my fashionable attire and was duly photographed.




The trail wandered along a moraine through mature spruce/western hemlock forest. The area was under ice in 1794 and the oldest trees were around 200 years old according to an article I found. The trees weren't even aged and there were standing dead and live trees with polypores. The stand did have more Sitka spruce than Western hemlock, relatively few shrubs (Vaccinium and Oplopanax), alot of moss and a variable amount of herbs. The herbs along the trail included; Rubus pedatus, Cornus canadensis, Goodyera oblongifolia, Pyrola asarifolia, Orthilia secunda, Moneses uniflora, and Listera cordata (a few sites with L. caurina). More Lobaria in the trees than I usually see in Sitka forests. Preference for Sitka spruce as host? The other difference was the predominance of Ganoderma applanatum instead of Fomitopsis. One large polypore was about 1.5 ft across.


The tree stocking is relatively dense, but the trees aren't that large. The topography is relatively flat and the till could be limiting drainage, the result of both of these factors could be a less productive site for trees. There are some small gaps in the overstory, which would allow light to the forest floor, but not alot.

There were several kettle ponds along the trail, these had Equisetum fluviatile, E. arvense, Platanthera dilatata, Menyanthes trifoliata and Nuphar polysepalum.

One odd thing about the trail was the prescence of old cottonwood leaves along the trail. We spent alot of time looking for cottonwood trees, but couldn't find any nearby in the forest. We did find a few cottonwoods around the lake, but none closer.

Ate lunch at the lake and decided to walk around (actually Martin decided to walk around and Ingrid and I followed).

The lake edge was often a mat of floating sphagnum, inboard of that was Equisetum arvense and Eriophorum chamissonis. The equisetum continued for a distance under the trees, kind of a unique sight for me.

Also found several bright yellow slime molds on moss and on the base of one tree. They could be Fuligo septica, but I'm not to sure about that identification.

Found 3 spindly Viburnum edule just landward of the sphagnum mat. I expected to see more Highbush cranberry around the lake as I associate it with both that habitat and the mainland.

We continued around the lake, walking was pretty easy as there weren't alot of shrubs.

On the far side of the lake we found several interesting things. The first was several Shephardia canadensis (Soapberry or Buffaloberry). This shrub is relativelly easy to recognize because of the opposite leaves which have small brownish rust scales on the underside. I haven't seen this shrub often in southeast, the other spot that comes to mind is up the Wright river (Taku Inlet) in a forest dominated by Subalpine fir. Shephardia is another shrub associated with nitrogen fixing actinomycetes (Frankia).

The other unusual plant (for me) was Pyrola chlorantha (aka P. virens). This species of Pyrola has greenish flowers borne around the stem, not along one side as in Orthilia secunda.

Also found a funnel shaped black fungus with irregular tomentum or teeth on the outer surface. Haven't figured that one out as yet. It looks most like a tough Coltricia or maybe a Phellodon.

The last puzzle found on the way around was a large sternum of a bird.

Haven't managed to identify it as yet. We guessed that it was at least 6 inches long and 4 inches wide.

Continued around the lake, thankfully we didn't get cut off 3/4 of the way around, and back down the trail. We spent 6 hours on the hike and covered about 12 miles. Kind of a speedy pace for me.

Birds: Winter wrens, chestnut-backed chickadees, Swainsons, Hermit, and Varied thrush, Robins, Golden crowned kinglets and a Blue grouse (whomper). We did find a nest (about 10 inches across) on a rock about 4 ft off shore in the lake. No sign of the parents or chicks.

Lots of red squirrel, moose and black bear sign and a mustelid scat on the trail.