March 18, 2017 - rain no photos

Saturday, March 18, 2017

18:40

I was only in the park thirty or forty minutes. I took no photographs.

It rained from the time I left Park Tower until I returned. I walked much of the time with my cane in my left hand … not good … a large umbrella and my digital recorder in my right hand.

I carried my camera, buttoned under my shirt to keep raindrops off the lens. I took no photos.

A dog in the yard of the first house west of the north access trail barked all of the time I was in the park. Very annoying.

I drove to the north access to Drumheller Springs Park. I wanted to check the locations of two Lomatium macrocarpum that I have found in bloom early in past years. I looked at my mid-March walks over the years and saw that they were often in bloom at this time. I supposed they might at least have advanced foliage. The foliage I had seen earlier was very young, very small.

I checked the early Lomatium macrocarpum that I have found in the past on a small outcrop near the fence of the west most house, east of the north access trail. There was no sign of anything. The tribe may have had a bonfire there last fall. It was barren. There was some trash of the kind that might be left over from a fire.

I forgot when I set my objective that the other L. macrocarpum site would be cut off by the arm of water linking the ponds. You can’t get there from here.

A second objective was checking for Fritillaria pudica, yellow bell foliage, west of North Pond.

I saw Saxifraga nidifica, peak saxifrage, in bud on the way. There was a scattering of Ranunculus glaberrimus, sagebrush buttercup in bloom. There were a very few Olsynium douglasii, grass widows in bloom. I didn’t notice any Draba verna in bloom, I did see D. verna foliage.

North pond water was perhaps within 10 feet of the fir grove.

I have seen an early F. pudica low on the base of the north east side of high point rock. There was O. douglasii foliage. I don’t have a clear recollection of F. pudica foliage but I’m fairly sure this was O. douglasii.

I do remember Earl F. pudica. F. pudica rises as a stout spike. But that would be after its bulb has developed. Finding the foliage of F. pudica before a bulb had developed will be difficult.

There was a lot of S. nidifica in bud on the north east base of high point rock. There were ots of tiny, under nourished, R. glaberrimus leaves.

There was a lot of bitterroot foliage, L. rediviva, on the west side of high point rock.

The F. pudica on yellow bell hill are not early.

There were a dozen or twenty R. glaberrimus blooming in the swale between yellow bell hill and the hill to the west covered with tall grass. I saw none elsewhere in the region.

There’s a wet seep, south of highpoint rock where I have found an earliest F. pudica in the past. No sign of anything today. Some O. douglasii foliage. Nothing in bloom in 360 degrees from where I stood, south of the seep. I saw a couple of dime size mushrooms, brown, across the seep to the north.

I became aware that I might get to the location of the other early L. macrocarpum from this location, west of north pond. I walked over to the main trail. I saw lots of S. nidifica buds along the way.

When I got to the trail I reassessed my available strength. There was still a considerable walk to get to the location of the early L. macrocarpum and I would have to reverse route … or wade the shallow arm of the pond. I decided, again, on the better part of valor.

Maintaining protection from the umbrella, holding my cane under my arm and maintaining my balance while turning off the digital recorder and putting it in my pocket was a bit of a trial but I made it happen.

13:54 back at the car. I turned off the recorder near the main trail. I reminded myself of things I probably failed to record.

I saw a lot of Saxifraga nidifica, peak saxifrage in bud. It won’t bloom for a long time. I wonder what evolutionary advantage there might me in a long period in bud. It doesn’t have to be an advantage. The experts say evolution is accident, that it is not purposeful.