Longmire Trail, Mt. Rainier 3/31

At around 3pm our group drove to a higher elevation on Mt. Rainier to a hiking trail to catalog the different species with the altitude change. There was snow covering the ground and on most of the trail itself and the temperature was about 15 degrees colder than at Pack Forest (roughly 30 degrees fahrenheit). There was minimal cloud cover and the sun was shining making the snowy field reflect a ton of light, a lot different than where we spent the morning. One of the first things that caught my eye on the trail were the deer ferns lining the stream banks and their coppery coloring. This was an outcome of the high levels of iron found in the water and dyed their leaves the copper color. On the trail where the snow was melted all the ground plants were flattened from the heavy packed snow lying on top of them all winter. What was similar about this area to Pack Forest were the lichens, oregon grape and trees, all very prominent in the ecosystem. All of the trees had branches starting much higher up the trunk to assist in the competition for light resources. Also this area contained certain kinds of trees that would absorb nutrients from the soil it did not necessarily need in order to withhold them from the surrounding plants that need them. Off the trail we saw several nursing logs that Hemlock seedlings grew out of and created a whole new tree using those nutrients. One tree that stood out was the Western Yew and its red bark. We attributed this coloring to the many minerals found in the water. The lake in that the trail circled had three beaver dams and one person actually saw a beaver swimming around. The water was uncharacteristically warm and had bubbles from the CO2 releasing causing different types of bacteria not found in our reference books to grow along the water edge.

Species Identified:
Lodgepole Pine
Olaria
Polmate Coltsfoot
Western Yew
Threshing Berry
Western White Pine
Common Bear Berry
Evergreen Blackberry
Alaska Cedar
fungus

Posted on May 1, 2012 01:29 PM by