Tag Archives: balsam root daisy

Tatlayoko.

cranesLasse was getting a ride to Williams Lake and I had to take him early to Tatla Lake; by a quirk of fate, none of the 3 remaining volunteers had ever driven a car so I have had to take them everywhere. As we were already 40 minutes en route, I decided we could all go to Tatlayoko, which is an hour south of Tatla Lake. On the way we were graced by these four sandhill cranes.

niutsA public campground has been made out of the old mill site beside the lake.  Fred is in the canoe, Ben and Jean on the shore.  The Niuts are in the background.  Then Ben and Jean had a turn.  Looking up to the Coast Range.

canoeingI left the other three beside the lake and drove south another 30 or 40 minutes.  I was hoping to find some flowers on a meadow I had seen years before, on Potato Mountain (on the left.)

potato rangeThe road got narrower and narrower ; it would soon end at  Bracewell’s Wilderness Lodge.

vanI managed to find a cow trail heading up the mountains. The first treat was an umbellifor I am too lazy to look up properly.

umbelliforThe next was a stone crop I often see at Nuk Tessli 

stone cropI was hoping to find the balsam root daisy, and it was in the forest in abundance.

balsam root daisiesI climbed higher and soon began to reach patches of meadow.

daisies lower meadowsAt first they seemed rather ordinary, but as I got higher still, I started finding harsh paintbrush (a different species than the one growing at home.)

harsh paintbrushThe meadows were now a lot more colourful.  (The white is the poisonous death cammas.) Apart from the blue, small-flowered penstemon, none of these species grow at Nuk Tessli.  The underlying sandstone /limestone mix of Potato Mountain produces a very different soil.

death cammasIt was now getting quite steep.

steepHere is a nice mix.

mixI could have wallowed among the flowers for hours, but the mosquitos were terrible!  Much worse than at home.  But the butterflies were also out in full force.

swallowtail