Missing from today’s hike were most of the ephemerals we expected at lower elevations. There were abundant toothworts (Cardamine concatenata, below), but few of the blooms we saw on this trail a year ago (and two weeks later). But, the bonus today was a number of flowers on the trail’s midsection (at ~1400 feet elevation).

I realized today, though it’s hardly surprising, that Barbara and I enjoy rocks nearly as much as plants. Last week we scrambled up a steep mountain stream lined with boulders, and this week we stumbled over rock outcroppings at the mountain’s peak. I might be getting too old to do this much longer, but I’ll keep going until I can’t. Each new plant discovery gives me a boost to keep climbing.

While serviceberries (Amelanchier canadensis, above) in our garden are not flowering yet, we were delighted to see many, from the bottom to top of the mountain. With leaf buds of trees just beginning to crack open, we were happy to see the serviceberries in bloom. (Note – tree growers that I worked with for many decades always called these sarviceberry which I see now is an accepted common name for it.)

Last year, we noted the last blooms of the Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens, above), a new plant for us. Today, there were scattered colonies at the lowest and highest elevations (around 2100 feet). The flowers were open at the bottom of the mountain and opening at the top. We’re fortunate to catch these on the right week. If we’ve seen them on other mountains we didn’t notice without the flowers.

Starting with a mild disappointment with the lack of flowers at the start, our plant finds and joy increased as we hiked higher into the mountain.