Eugene Parnell4d ago
Here's another hiking thread with plants--my trip yesterday trip to Gothic Basin, in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, 2 hours' drive NE of Seattle. It's right near the old mining ghost town of Monte Cristo which has its own crazy history. That's for another day. Today we're going up, up, up past the snow line. A short thread.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
Show threadEugene Parnell4d ago

Hiking Gothic Basin part 2. Lowland Forest is damp and still soggy from snowmelt above. Contrast the giant leaves of Western skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus) with our native horse tail (Equisetum hymenale). Cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum) in bloom-- look at all the diverse little insects stuck into it. These plants are edible but they look very much like a couple others that are really toxic, so maybe don't eat them.

#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside

Show threadEugene Parnell4d ago
Hiking Gothic Basin part 3. Aruncus dioicus or goat's beard, a plant found all around the Northern Hemisphere that almost no one notices except when it's flowering. Aquilegia formosa, our native columbine. Formosa in this case just means well formed and has nothing to do with Taiwan.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
Show threadEugene Parnell4d ago

Hiking Gothic Basin part 4. Dodecatheon jeffreyi/Primula jeffreyi. Shooting star is the common name for these. I see the white ones pretty regularly but I seldom see the purple ones. This one is growing by a mossy seep in the rock.

#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside

Show threadEugene Parnell4d ago
Hiking Gothic Basin part 5. Look at the absolutely stunning little tableau of plant life on this stump. Looks like it consists of more Primula jeffreyi, a wee little deer fern, and a kind of club moss called Lycopodium clavatum (which apparently some people call elk moss?). It's a living fossil--club mosses are primitive plants that were amongst the first to colonize land almost half a billion years ago. #hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
Show threadEugene Parnell4d ago
Hiking Gothic Basin part 6. We're nearing the tree line now. The trail is getting gnarly. And can I say this is a *hard* trail. It's steep and rocky and in quite a few places you have to use your hands to pull yourself up.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
Show threadEugene Parnell4d ago
Hiking Gothic Basin part 7. I lost count of how many waterfalls there are along this trail. Probably half a dozen. Here's a short video of one. Watch till the end of the camera pan, it's worth it.
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
Show threadEugene Parnell4d ago
Hiking Gothic Basin part 8. Okay this is the money shot. Gothic basin, about 5400 feet above sea level (1650m). It's no Everest but in our climate it stays snow bound well into the summer. This image is a panorama, just to give you an idea of what surrounds you standing up here. Zoom in and scroll back and forth and pretend you're turning your head. #hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
Show threadEugene Parnell4d ago
Hiking Gothic Basin part 9. There's not much growing up here except heather. It's blooming already and the snow has barely gone. The growing season up here is only maybe 4 months long so plants get busy quick. It's also why these alpine ecosystems are so fragile--every broken twig takes years and years to regrow. If those little flowers look familiar it's because blueberries are also in the heather family (Ericaceae).
#hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
dch  14h ago
Show threadEugene Parnell
Hiking Gothic Basin part 10. There's a small alpine lake up here called Foggy Lake. Here's it is, still partially frozen. If you look closely you can see some people there for scale. I'm not sure why they call it Gothic Basin but I'd like to believe it's because these incredible triangular peaks look a bit like the rooflines of Gothic cathedrals. Anyway thanks for following me to the end of the trail/end of thread. #hiking #nativeplants #PNW #getoutside
Jun 21 at 7:00amWeb
Show threadGenX Cascadian 4d ago
@eugeneparnell what was your round trip distance? I haven’t done this one before.
Show threadEugene Parnell3d ago
@bpr1de WTA website says it's 12 miles round trip and about 2800 ft elevation gain. It seems harder than it is, there's lots of comments to that effect in the trip reports. The path is real rocky and uneven and the grade is really steep in spots. But that's what makes it fun!
Show threadJoseph Elfelt4d ago
@eugeneparnell Great pics. Thanks for the memories. I have been to foggy Lake in the fog. That trip was a Mountaineers scramble of Del Campo. When we hit the poor visibility I was the only one in the group that knew the route.
Show threadGreg Johnston4d ago
@mappingsupport @eugeneparnell Was foggy when I hiked there too. Not so bad though.
Show threadBrian Davis3d ago
@eugeneparnell breathtaking!
Show threadEugene Parnell2d ago
@intrepidhero It really is!
Show threadMountain Mindset14h ago
@eugeneparnell Wow these views look absolutely amazing! Thanks for sharing, always appreciate your posting style of bringing us along.