March 31st Trail of Shadows, Longmire

March 31st Trail of Shadows, Longmire WA Elevation: 2700 feet.
Weather: Partial cloud, mostly sunny.
Habitat: Alpine meadow. Snow covers most of the ground, especially shaded areas. However large open meadow/ marsh features warm spring water carrying minerals that turn area a rust color. Mt. Rainier summit to the North, River to the south.
Meadow is surrounded older growth forest dominated by Yew’s, Cedars, and Pine trees. An Alaskan Cedar was observed indicating the difference in climate due to elevation. Most notable were the prevalence of various fungi and lichens unseen or un-noticed previously. For example tube lichens were more common. Nearly all fallen trees had mushroom growth on them. And lipstick Caledonia was observed for the first time.

Species List:

Taxus brevifolia
Cupressus nootkatensis
Cladonia

Posted on June 5, 2012 03:21 PM by austinuw