Plants and Animals

 Just a few random shots of plants & animals seen on our recent camping trip. 

This first one was a group of about 5 little baby ptarmigan we flushed out of the brush ahead of us. We didn’t see her, but I’m sure Mother wasn’t far away.

 

This flower caught my attention on one of our walks because of its light pink color. That’s unusual for a dogwood (I’m fairly certain that’s a dogwood, but could be wrong).

 

And this little baby tree is infected with a parasite that created these galls in such a weird pattern – it reminded me of an alien wrapped around it’s host.

 

Mushrooms were everywhere up there! I really wish I knew mushrooms better: we could have made several meals out of them.

 

And my final photo was the most amazing – so of course the picture itself is the absolute worst possible. We were camped at the Sourdough Creek Campground, a lovely spot next to a creek (hence the name). It was about 8:00 at night and Bryan & I were sitting at the table after dinner, just quietly reading, when he happened to glance out the window and said “Oh my god!” I looked up = AND SAW A LYNX LOOKING BACK AT ME! It was not 6 feet away from us and just stunningly beautiful. It looked at us and kind of twitched its tail a bit, then calmly continued on its way down the path.

 

We also saw several porcupine and a moose with her baby nearby - but didn't get pictures of them.