Chilling in the Bruce, Part 7

The Singing Sands of Dorcas Bay

On Friday we drove north again to visit the Bruce Peninsula National Park near Tobermory. On the way there we stopped at Crane River Park, where we had lunch on Wednesday, after finding out from another visitor that there were nodding trilliums there. Naturally, we explored this area a bit and found not only the nodding trilliums, but also ostrich ferns, tall meadow rue, horsetail club mosses, a currant and a clematis vine we weren't able to identify--a botanically rich spot by a small stream.

An aside here, I thought I'd seen nodding trilliums while hiking in Natural Bridge Park in Kentucky a couple of years ago, but I must have been mistaken--these nodding trilliums didn't look anything like the ones I'd seen there, these were really "nodding," with the flowers nearly hidden under the foliage!

Nodding trillium (Trillium cernuum)

Tall meadow rue (Thalictrum pubescens)

After this stop we drove into the Visitor Center at the park to watch a short nature video about this wonderful area and find out about parking permits at Singing Sands on Dorcas Bay. Singing Sands--what a wonderful name! The sands were silent today, but the name makes you wonder what the sands might sound like on blustery days...

It was getting to be lunchtime, so after parking, we made our way to some picnic tables by a building with restrooms. From here we could see the beach on one side, and a fen on the other side of the boardwalk--it was much chillier here with the breeze from the lake than at the Visitor Center the eastern side of the peninsula.

The fen behind the boardwalk

After lunch we made our way down the boardwalk crossing the fen and began to look for the fascinating ram's head orchids (Cypripedium arietinum) that are unique to this site. The first ones we came across were just beyond the fen, amid some low-growing junipers. This curious flower is smaller than the yellow lady slipper orchid, with a slipper that has a pointed "beard" in the front resembling a goat's beard, with white fuzz on the upper part, thence the common name. The maroon markings on the slipper add to its surreal look.

Ram's head orchid (Cypripedium arietinum)

Front view of the ram's head orchid

Ram's head orchids growing with prostrate junipers.

Ram's head orchid bud opening and a seed pod.

We found a few more clumps of the ram's head orchids, generally growing among conifers, specially prostrate junipers. The flowers of most of them were just starting to open. Dwarf lake iris was blooming here too, interspersed with blooms of gaywings.

Dwarf lake iris (Iris lacustris)

Dwarf lake iris and gaywings (Polygala paucifolia)

It took me a while to get the shots of the ram's head orchid that I wanted, and by the time I looked up, the rest of the group had vanished. I continued on the trail looking for them, but despite walking at a very fast clip, I couldn't locate anyone--how could they possibly have gotten so far ahead? They must have taken a side trail, but which one? There were too many to choose from, so rather than getting lost, I went back towards the boardwalk. Here a few of the birders who had remained behind were watching some water snakes and some tiny fish swimming in a shallow creek.

Water snake in a creek with fingerlings.

Later on one lady spotted a red-headed woodpecker on a far-away snag in the middle of a stand of trees in the fen. We watched the woodpecker dive and turn, always returning to "his" snag. After a while, a scarlet tanager showed up on another tree near the snag--incredibly bright--both were too far away for me to photograph. Thus we were entertained until the rest of the group returned--they had taken a trail towards the beach, no wonder I couldn't find them.

Yellow lady slippers and Indian paintbrush

Yellow lady slippers and slender blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium mucronatum)

Lots of yellow lady slippers.

On the drive back from Singing Sands, we saw that the yellow lady slippers by the roadside were out in force among the Indian paintbrush, and stopped to get more photos of them--lovely! They do seem to grow like weeds here on the Bruce.

Chilling in the Bruce, Part 1

Lake Huron at the Evergreen Resort.

Back in January, the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) had announced their upcoming annual trip would travel to the Bruce Peninsula in Canada. The Bruce is a strip of land lying between the northern shores of Lake Huron on the west and Georgian Bay on the east. Due to its geological origins and climate, it has some of the most unique native flora on the planet, so when I found that VNPS would be visiting the area, I signed up immediately. Here was my chance to see first-hand some of the most unusual and rare plants in North America!

I took two days to drive there, making an overnight stop in Buffalo, NY so that I could stop to see Niagara Falls along the way. When I was a child, Niagara Falls was billed as one of the seven wonders of the world, and I didn't want to miss it--it's one for everyone's bucket list. The morning was overcast, and a light drizzle was falling when I arrived at the state park--the advantage of coming early on a rainy day was plenty of parking and no lines, so I purchased a ticket for the Maid of the Mist tour to see the falls close-up and was able to board with no waiting.

The American Falls at Niagara

The falls are still as awesome as when the first European explorers saw them, despite having moved some seven hundred feet farther upstream due to natural erosion, but the rather touristy-industrial development on the Canadian side hasn't improved the landscape.  As one passes under the falls, the spray is such that the tour operators include a disposable plastic raincoat with the price of the ticket--another fellow tourist kindly obliged me to take this shot. It was overcast and there were no rainbows, but as the wall of spray hit my face, I opened my mouth to take it in--ahh, here was a taste of Niagara Falls!

Below Horseshoe Falls

I spent only a couple of hours in the park, just long enough to see the falls and then went on to cross the border into Canada, where the border guard asked about my destination. As I talked about my intended route the guard asked me if I was aware of the tolls on this road--turned out it was the most expensive route possible! I thanked him as he directed me to the visitor center just beyond to get a map and directions for an alternate route without tolls.

The clouds began to clear, though the traffic became heavier as I drove on the Queen Elizabeth Way towards Toronto. My exit at Hurontario Street took me through endless suburbs with street lights at every corner, and it was slow going until I left Brampton behind, but the route provided the opportunity to stop to fill up my tank. I'd been advised to buy "petrol" whenever possible, since unlike in the states, one never knows how far it may be to the next station.

Once in the countryside, I had the chance to observe that it was still early spring in these latitudes. The rolling countryside was mostly farmland and hay grass, dotted with old farmhouses and small hamlets. One elaborate Victorian house seemed to have had its charms overtaken by modern road improvements. The trees' leaves were just starting to unfurl, and as I drove further north, the trees were almost bare. Before turning off at the town of Sauble Beach, I caught a glimpse of Lake Huron and a dune.

I arrived at the Evergreen Resort in mid-afternoon and checked in, being directed to the cottage I was to share with Tana, who hadn't arrived yet. The chilly wind was whipping up whitecaps on the lake, the water coming up high over the rocks at the shoreline. I was glad I'd thought to pack my thermal underwear and both of my polartec vests, as well as two jackets.

The sunny lounge at Evergreen Resort

By dinnertime our group of twenty had all arrived and we met in the lounge by a roaring fire to introduce ourselves and discuss the next day's plans. We would carpool in five cars and caravan to the sites, rotating drivers and cars over the entire week so as to minimize our impact on the fragile sites--there was very little parking space at some of the places we would visit.

Next morning was still quite windy, so after breakfast we set out for Walker Woods, a mixed forest of evergreens and deciduous trees sheltered from the wind. The forest consisted mostly of white cedar, fir, spruce, hemlock, Canada yew, maples, ash trees and buckthorn alder. Marsh marigolds and buckbean were about the only plants in flower, though a panoply of gaywings, twinflower, ferns, sedges and low shrubs underneath were in bud. The moss and pine needles made a spongy carpet among  pools of water here and there.

Marsh Marigolds (Caltha palustris)

Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata)

I had my first glimpse of the dwarf lake iris--these endemics don't seem to bloom in masses as one would expect, and there were so many plants new to me: fly-honeysuckle, with pairs of delicate pendant cream flowers, Canada mayflower, wild sarsaparilla, a list too long to include, but here are photos of some of the highlights.

Dwarf lake iris (Iris lacustris)

Wild Sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis)

Fly honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis)

Starflower in bud (Trientalis borealis)

On our way back to the resort for lunch we stopped at a sandy clearing along the resort's gravel drive to find a patch of gaywings (Polygala paucifolia) in full bloom. Red-osier dogwood and bracken ferns were leafing out, red elderberry was blooming here.

Gaywings (Polygala paucifolia)

After lunch we drove out to see Oliphant Fen--a fen has water flowing through it as opposed to a bog, which has standing water. The wind chill was more noticeable here, close to the lake shore. We saw a number of plants by the roadside that most people would overlook as mere weeds, such as bastard toadflax, shrubby cinquefoil, silverweed, ragwort, wild strawberries and leaves of grass-of-Parnassus.

Oliphant Fen

Purple Pitchers (Sarracenia purpurea) and butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris)

Primroses (Primula mistassinica)

In the watery fen were purple pitcher plants in bud, some lovely primroses and a few yellowish leaves of rare butterwort, but with no flowers. The larches (tamarack) were just starting to put out their new leaves, and some sand cherries were opening their flowers.

Young tamarack tree (Larix laricina)

The wind chill was starting to get to us, by around five we were ready to call it a day, but not before stopping at the entrance of the resort to photograph a patch of bright red Indian paintbrush flowers.

Indian paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea)

Indian paintbrush

Blue Larkspur

Glacier Plants II, color pencil 10" x 8"

 Note: A high-quality digital reproduction of this painting is now available for $100 plus shipping. Quantities are limited.

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After a day of rest my knees returned to almost normal. In the morning I showered early and did some laundry by hand before breakfast. After breakfast I worked on my watercolor of the view from Sperry Chalet for a couple of hours as the day gradually warmed.

After that I got my pack lunch and headed out towards the ledges at Akaiyan Falls to sketch the beautiful blue larkspur flowers I'd noticed on the way back from my hike to Sperry Glacier. Kali, a young lady on the staff who was the dishwasher and liked to sketch, had the afternoon off, and decided she would meet up with me later on location.

Profusion of Pink Spirea and wildflowers on the ledges

St. John's Wort (Hypericum formosum var. scouleri)

The wildflowers along the trail were amazing--each day seemed to bring on a new progression of bloom as previous flowers faded and set seed. Places where the sun warmed certain ledges earlier brought out a flush of bloom in some places while others ledges in shadow wouldn't bloom until later--making the flowering period dependent on the exposure.

The growing season being so short here, after a week many of the wildflowers in the cirque were now approaching late spring to summer, whereas the week before it had been early to mid spring.

Billygoat on the trail

When I got to the waterfall, a billy goat was lying right on the trail, but he graciously moved farther up a ledge, leaving his spot to me. I set up my camping stool and started to work right away. After I'd finished sketching the larkspur, I took my lunch break. Later Karen, the baker from the Chalet, passed me on her way up towards Comeau Pass and stopped to take this photo--notice the two goats on the ledges behind me.

Sketching the larkspur with goats behind.

 Impossible to paint the iridescence of the intense blue and purple of the low larkspur flowers with color pencil! I'd need something like the interference colors made by Daniel Smith, or a mineral watercolor pigment. Once I completed the larkspur, I looked for a few other flowers to add to my sketch, to give a sense of how these plants grew and bloomed together. I figured the yellow of the St. John's Wort flowers with a tinge of deep red on the buds and at the petal tips, and a sprig of scarlet red Indian Paintbrush would complement the larkspur's blue for a set of primary colors. Some gray-green leaves of yarrow and a couple of rocks would tie it all together.

Low Larkspur (Delphinium bicolor)

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja rhexiflora)

Kali joined me and we chatted while we both worked. An interesting young lady, she has a degree in architecture, but had become disillusioned with it as a profession, and wanted to write instead. Her grandfather was from Czechoslovakia and had taken refuge in Bolivia toward the end of WWII to avoid an assassination plot. Her father had been born in Bolivia and immigrated to the US as a young man. She did very amusing pen and ink drawings--I hope she will continue to draw as she finds her way towards an artistic life.

Later on I had a chance to admire her caricatures of people when she drew a wonderful get-well card for Karen's husband who had fallen while hiking a few days earlier. Dan twisted his knee and had torn the ligaments; he had to be sent down the mountain trail on mule back. They operated on his knee as soon as it could be scheduled, but he would be unable to resume his duties on the staff for a couple of weeks at least. Kevin had to send a substitute to replace Dan, and Jason came up to take up his position on the staff.

It got very warm as the sun moved to the west, even positively hot, but by this time I was almost finished with my sketch. Kali decided she wanted to hike a bit farther up the trail, and I walked back to Sperry Chalet. Another hoary marmot appeared on the trail as I was walking back.

Hoary marmot on the trail.

Maidenhair ferns and club mosses grow among the ledges.

BTW, high quality digital reproductions of this painting  of Glacier Plants II and Glacier Plants (with the Pentestemons) will be available for purchase soon, coming in early 2017.