Here are a few photos from a short tootle with my sister up the Smith-Dorrien road behind Canmore on June 29th.
I have to say that I was a bit surprised (shocked?, affronted?, even disappointed?... ) to see some of the plants that I consider "alpine" growing at relatively low elevation in the scree along the roadside, where the rock cilffs rise out of the Spray Lakes reservoir! (Obviously, that's my problem of perception, not that of the plants!) It was excellent that my sister, a nonhiker, could see a few of them, thusly, but I will continue to prefer to see them in their "usual" alpine situations, for as long as I'm physically able, where they are unsullied by road dust (and away from the company of the cretins who spray paint inanities on the rock faces). Anyway...
An interesting bicoloured Rhodiola integrifolia; Silene uralensis, looking charming as always:
I've read of cryptogamic soil in the desert - would this not be considered it as well?
A lousy photo of a very cute Cerastium(?):
Botrychium sp.; Oxytropis sericea(?); Oxytropis monticola(?) - please correct me if I'm getting these wrong (I didn't key them out):
After some consideration, it has occurred to me that, compared to Europe, we have a lot of not terribly showy orchids in these parts, LOL! Not that I don't appreciate seeing them - and we saw a lot of these.... Corallorhiza trifida:
And one of these... northern twayblade, Listera borealis:
And a few of these... Now that's more like it! ;-) Calypso orchid, Calypso bulbosa:
