Bear Creek Mountain

9/1/2023

This past Monday, August 28th, the crew surveyed their last peak of the 2023 summer field season!

Starting in the parking lot with just over a thousand feet of elevation gain to the peak itself, we cruised along flat trail through subalpine forest and meadows. After a few miles, the trail really got down to business- the final mile or so was a steep summit push, but we crushed it! We were greeted at the summit with gorgeous views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and the Goat Rocks.

We sampled a large area mainly consisting of talus and rocky outcroppings- not much soil development. A surprising find was Aquilegia formosa, right at the summit. And unlike many peaks we have surveyed, we found both Phlox diffusa and Phlox hendersonii together. Three lovely Erigerons, Erigeron compositus, Erigeron aureus, and Erigeron nivalis, along with several other composites made this a pleasing peak to pin up the project.

It's been a fun, productive, and enriching summer of fieldwork for the 2023 interns!