Mirror mere

I'm still busy trying to identify alpine plants; there were so many new ones to me at Paradise Meadows!

Meanwhile, here's one of the ponds that dot the meadows.

Halfway around the Centennial Loop.

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Sigo ocupada en tratar de identificar plantas de la montaña. ¡Había tantas nuevas para mi en las Praderas Paraíso!

Por mientras, aquí hay una de las lagunas que mantienen la pradera húmeda. Esta está en el primer círculo, un sendero de apenas 2 km.

Rainforest hideaway

There's always a pond ...

With glowing mushrooms. And invisible (to the camera) damselflies.

At the end of an unused driveway. It was late afternoon and the shadows were long; damselflies darted in and out of the shade, creating brief flashes of blue light.

Behind the green curtain

Long stretches of highway in our Vancouver Island rainforest are like narrow halls between dense green walls. Where the evergreens have been cut back, fast-growing deciduous trees and shrubs have crowded into the newly-cleared space, cutting off the view.

What's beyond, of course, is usually more trees, but sometimes there's a river or a mountain; I catch hints of reflected light off snow or water as I drive by.

And then winter comes, the leafy curtain drops, revealing creeks and ponds and even formerly invisible lakes.

Icy pond behind the bare trunks, still out of reach without waterproof boots and a good hiking stick.

Typical highway view, April 2017. Nothing to see here: move along.

It makes for slow going: I keep pulling off, and walking back down the highway to see what I've missed. I keep looking for wildlife back there, a bear or an elk, a beaver, a herd of deer; you never know.