Pedicularis groenlandica:
Oh. The red was not caused by glistening dew-drops on
Drosera, but were rather the purplish-red of this most-fine wildflower. Actually I wasn't too let down because this
is one of my favorite wildflowers--aptly given the common name of "elephant head" or something like that.
Dang. Well, after a great deal of surveying the north side of the basin, I gave up. There were plenty of places with
water sheeting over sloping topography, but
they were dominated by dense growths of large and coarse grasses. No Sphagnum, no gentle seeps, no
Drosera or Utricularia. I did find a little trash, but it appeared perhaps to be part of some
monitoring equipment left by scientists so I left it alone. Still, it was slowly desintegrating and spreading bits of crap
into the surrounding vegetation. I'm all for science that can produce results to help us manage land more effectively for
the preservation of native biodiversity, but it irks me when scientists leave behind crap.
I continued my wanderings in the basin, heading in a more or less systematic way along the margin of the valley, with
occasional transects back to the stream running through the valley core. I moved back and forth, slowly making
westward progress. Nothing!
