Mt. Rainier Ntl Park -- Longmire 3/31/12

Coordinates: Lat: 46.7498311
Lon: -121.8389367746

Weather: Clear skies and full sun! Approximately 38 degrees F and no notable wind.

3pm-- Snow covers the ground, perhaps 2-3 ft in most places, leaving the undergrowth almost invisible and putting the trees on display. Here the conifers are tall, thick, and very widely spaced --all signs of an old growth forest, at least 175 years old.
Most striking is the Longmire meadow, a wide expanse of red/orange mud, water and low shrubs that has no tall growth and no snow at all! Upon slightly closer inspection, one can see that the water is bubbling, as if boiling straight up from the earth. I marvel at the strangeness of a volcano... The organey red ground looks painted and emits a slightly sulfurous smell.
The meadow/hotspring? is surrounded by old growth forest, for once Douglas-fir isn't quite as obviously dominate, Cedars (Western Red: Thuja plicata and Yellow: Thuja occidentalis) and Hemlocks (Western: Tsuga heterophylla and Mountain: Tsuga metensiana) play a big role here. We find a small Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia), identifiable by its flat pointy needles that are soft and the red, peely bark. Many of the hemlocks are quite small, growing primarily out of felled trees. They need the nutrients provided by decaying material and don't mind the shade of a thick overstory-- hence hemlocks being named a "climax species" of the PNW. We also see a large Pacific Silver Fir (Abies amabilis). When they are really really tall (i.e. so tall that their branches are too high to inspect) Silver firs are still distinguishable from Dougs by their smoother bark, not as deeply furrowed as the Doug's.
The few small plants that are visible now with all the snow are very near streams because it is here that the snow has been pushed away. Next to such streams we find deer fern (Blechnum spicant) smooshed by the weight of snow.

Species List:
Trees--
Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga mensiesii)
Pacific Silver Fir (Abies amabilis)
Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)
Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata)
Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia)

Shrubs--
Kinnickinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)
Oregon Grape (Mahonia nervosa)
Deer Fern (Blechnum spicant)
Salal (Gaultheria shallon)

Lichen--
Tree Lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria)
Lipstick Cladonia (Cladonia macilenta)

Jelly Fungi (Dacrymyces ovisporus)

Publicado el abril 30, 2012 01:12 MAÑANA por jesscubb