Longmire Park Mount Ranier, March 31, 2012

The weather at Longmire was surprisingly sunny, with only the occasional misting. There was still snow on the ground, but the temperature was moderate. The trees in Longmire were old growth, and the forest differet greatly from Pack Forest which was mostly second growth. At Longmire the trees were much taller, and Western Hemlocks and Red Cedars dominated the landscape. The trail, called the Trail of Shadows, looped around the Longmire hotsprings, which were steaming. Some interesting things that I saw on this trip were bright yellow oomycetes growing along a stick, and the beautiful red bark of the western yew. There was also moss and lichen covering many of the trees and stumps. Many young trees were growing out of old logs, and I learned that these were called nurse logs. There were also some beautiful fungus shelves growing along the trunks of the trees.

Western Hemlock, Tsuga heteropylla
Oomycetes
Western Yew, Taxus brevifolia
Western redcedar, Thuja plicata

Posted on May 1, 2012 05:57 PM by andymj