Last week, I visited British Columbia"s Cathedral Provincial Park for hiking, photography, and botanizing. Though I"ve yet to identify anything rare in what I photographed, it was a pleasure to visit the area for both the scenery and the sheer diversity of flora and fauna. I"m estimating, but I"d guess at least a hundred different plant species were in bloom, including mass displays of Lupinus, Valeriana & Arnica in the subalpine and, only hinted at in the bottom of this photograph, the yellow-flowering Dasiphora fruticosa (nee Potentilla fruticosa) at or above treeline.

The trees in the valley above and around Glacier Lake (if clicking on the Google Maps link, it is misnamed Cathedral Lakes) are mainly Larix lyallii, or alpine larch (sometimes called subalpine larch). The populations in this part of southern British Columbia and adjacent Washington state (where it occurs in larger extent) are considered disjunct from the main part of the species distributional range in the Rocky Mountains. I have read that the hike from Quiniscoe Lake to Glacier Lake is spectacular in mid- to late September, when the needles of Larix lyallii turn golden and begin to fall like a light, soft snow. But that will be a trip for another year. Posted by: Daniel Mosquin    Source

---