Marble Mountains Pt.1

My dad, my brother-in-law Dave, and myself revived our annual backpacking tradition, after having taken a four year break since the pandemic began.

We had a great time immersed in nature and I dorked out pretty hard photographing all the amazing plants, many of which were still blooming magnificently, I assume bolstered by all the rain we received in California this past Spring.

Hitting the trail, fresh and full of vigor!

I took over 600 pictures, mostly of flowers.  I enjoy discovering new species and researching them, and finding out what families they belong to.  I'm going to try to be somewhat scientific and present most of these pictures in groupings based on those botanical families...

First of all, as we began our hike up the Shackleford Creek Trail, through a forest of various conifers, there was one curious and dainty little flower sprinkled alongside the path.  It was the only member of its family that I observed:

Asyneuma prenanthoides (California Harebell)
member of the Campanulaceae family

Also, throughout the shaded forest floor were a number of examples of the Heather family Ericaceae, a family known for it's often-inverted urn-shaped blossoms:

Pyrola sp.
(not sure on exact species)

This I'm pretty sure is White-veined Wintergreen (Pyrola picta), also prevalent in the shade

Pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata), yet another species of low-growing Ericaceae.  This one has been purported to have various medicinal uses, as well as being a good flavoring for root beer, according to Wikipedia.

The next three members of Ericaceae I will share were seen on day 2, further up the trail.  These are all more shrubby in stature, and were found in sunnier locales:

Manzanita Arctostaphylos uva-ursi? seen on the dry, rocky slopes, often hugging boulders.  This one had a nice beam of sun spotlighting it's dramatic contortions.

...and these next two are both members of the subfamily Ericoideae, and were growing together along the bank of Summit Lake:

Two pictures of Pink Mountainheath (Phyllodoce empetriformis):

  ...and one picture of Western Labrador Tea (Rhododendron columbianum):

Summit Lake, a refreshing place to take a dip and have some lunch.

Always love seeing newts!:

Rough-skinned Newt (Taricha granulosa)

...and a silvery-blue colored one