Ten mile hike

June 21, 2015

Solstice. Gary Snyder’s poem listed some essentials for his children. “Stay together. Learn the flowers. Go light.”
Yesterday with a group: Lori, Grant, Cathy, Penny, and Steve, we hiked through an area just east of the Beartooth Range that had tens of wild bitterroot in bloom, wild clematis, death camus, arrow leaf balsam root (not many), forget-me-not, gentian, some in bloom, persiflage, penstemon, sage, chamomile (in the parking area), sticky geranium, roses, and many, many more wild plants that I can’t remember. I’ll mention the ones that come to mind later.
Grant showed us a rare and protected plant, perhaps 2 inches high, Shoshonea parvulum. Grant said it lives only in the Beartooths and the Pryor mountains. I crouched down, laid on the ground actually, and looked carefully. Its petite and downy length was said to resemble a carrot. I didn’t think so. It had complicated yellow…