The following photos were taken during a hike on Ptarmigan Ridge on Tuesday, September 27, 2005. The hike was with the GAHC, led by Jeff Roger, assisted by Philip Hewitt. The elevation varied from 5100' at the Artist's Point trailhead, to 6100' at our lunch stop. We took 5.7 hours for the 14 km return trip.

Scroll down to see all the photos.     Click here to see other wildflower photos.

Photo     Time     Comment
#2368   10:13   Starting off from Artist's Point on a sunny, warm day.

#2370   10:16   Mt. Baker beckons

#2373   10:22   The first part of the trail is quite level

#2378   11:29   Blueberries and Partridgefoot

#2381   11:42   Coleman Pinnacle on the right

#2385   12:00   Blueberry - P. 56
Note how the berry is blue with a dull surface (huckleberries are darker with a shiny surface)

#2387   12:24   Getting closer

#2393   12:39   Closeup view from our lunch stop

#2395   12:43   Our lunch spot and turnaround point, shortly before the trail curves south again.

#2402   13:29   A pretty lake on the way back. We saw 9 mountain goats around here, but they were too far away to photograph.

#2404   13:31   Alpine (?) Aster - Aster alpigenus - P. 286

#2408   13:33   My hand was steadying the aster for a photo, and a moth appeared!

#2416   13:38   The bumblebees are lazy in the cool autumn air

#2419   13:40   Looking east to a colourful hillside

#2422   13:55   Basalt columns

#2424   13:56   Lots of blueberries

#2427   14:04   Mt. Shuksan is the eye candy on the way back to Artist's Point

#2435   14:27   More of Shuksan

#2438   14:46   Lots of grasses to see

#2445   14:52   Ferns can get fall colours too - in this case an Alpine Lady Fern - Athyrium distentifolium (or A.alpestre) - P. 422

#2446   14:55   Mountain Monkey-Flower - Mimulus tilingii - P. 264
The mountain variety is very common in the Ptarmigan Ridge area - there are lots in the seeps after you drop down
from the junction with the Chain Lakes trail. The plants tend to form mats or cushions and the leaves almost look succulent.
The flowers are usually born singly rather than several per leaf axilla (VS).

#2451   15:05   Blueberries and Partridgefoot

#2464   15:24   Partridgefoot - Luetkea pectinata - P. 184

#2465   15:28   Subalpine spirea - Spirea densiflora - P. 81

#2466   15:32   Almost back!

#2467   15:32   Green Trails Map #14

Many thanks to Eva Nagy and Virginia Skilton for helping with the plant identifications. Please email me if you know the names of plants that I have not named on the web site, or if any plants are misindentified!      

The reference page numbers are taken from:   J. Pojar and A. Mackinnon, "Plants of Coastal British Columbia," Lone Pine Publishing, Vancouver, B.C., 2004.