A look into the past....Bog trip

[SirKristoff]

Washington state was once COVERED in these bogs, EVERYWHERE.....true sphagnum bogs now days are rare, but are very beautiful....Everywhere, was sphagnum and D. rotundifolia....common or not, it was gorgeous. and definitely a trip i will remember for the rest of my life.
We will start this off with some photos taken on the way to the bog after we parked the car.
No editing or cleaning up was done to these photos...Dont have the time LOL
We are coming up on a trail to the bog, about a quarter mile from where we parked...According to Ron, he has never seen anyone else out here....We think, damn....So many people walk the trails here, and they dont even know what they are missing....Isolated in this little valley between mountains.

Down into the grasses by our feet, glittering in the sun, were a batch of D. rotundifolia, i originally only saw one off to the side...soon realized, that they were EVERYWHERE...it was impossible to get around without stepping on a few...thankfully, once we got to the bog area, the mats of sphagnum were so thick, that nothing could hurt them....it was like walking on a trampoline...that you could sink into

At the end of this trail, we got our first glimpse of the actual bog...One of the few remaining in the state of washington....What a beautiful sight it was

 

[SirKristoff]

This is where we saw some of the largest populations of D. rotundifolia. Growing sometimes submerged in the water itself, they were very colorful...glistening in the mid afternoon sun, it was really a sight to behold.

Various species of sphagnum moss were in the area...3 atleast, one of which i know was Capillifolium...a very brilliant red sphagnum moss that is native to our area.

 

[SirKristoff]

There were certain spots which seemed to be nearly over-run by these little plants....
little hills of sphagnum encircled by rotundifolia...

Some spots held some outstanding specimens...this one was the one that stood out the most to myself and Ron

Everywhere around the bog...there were these little rhododendron-like plants....anyone who can ID these?

 

[petmantis]

What? no s. purpurea? just joking. Those are some impressive pics!!! Congrats SK

 

[Grey Moss]

Wow, that was great. Those sphagnum is great.

 

[SirKristoff]

Thanks pet lol...
all taken with an old sony cyber shot DSC-P92 lol

 

[maneatingmoo]

Beautiful pics Kris. I have got to take some time to go see one of those soon.

 

[lambdlth]

Beautiful photos. I think the plant in question is bog rosemary, Kalmia microphylla.
http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/waflora/checklist.php?Taxon=Kalmia microphylla&ID=3214
Are those aroid looking plants skunk cabbage?

 

[SirKristoff]

OH cant forget these photos
Ron exploring the area

and my GF taylor looking confused

 

[petmantis]

Thanks pet lol...
all taken with an old sony cyber shot DSC-P92 lol

Yea ok i have a cyber shot DSC H1! LOL

 

[Capensis]

Very beautiful bog. The sphagnum and the dews jutting out like jewels is just beautiful. You're very lucky to be able to see CPs in the wild. It will be a goal in life for me to do so. xD Hehe, I like the comment on the last picture.

 

[SirKristoff]

lamb- yes that would be skunk cabbage....i hate that stuff lol....smells rancid

 

[SirKristoff]

and lamb - sorry man thats not bog rosemarry....the leaves from the plant are in the bottom corner of the photo, look identical to a rhododendron of some form

 

[lambdlth]

Actually, look at my previous post again, I added a link. I believe they are two different plants. The larger leaves may be rhododendron macrophylla (?) stunted by too much water. The flowers seem to be coming off a plant with more needle like leaves. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[SirKristoff]

They snaked around through some of those need like leaves but connected to the same stem as the rhododendron like leaves....

 

[Ant]

Pretty sphag. I suppose it would be illegal/immoral to take some though.

 

[SirKristoff]

Yeah Ant
this bog is protected by many laws since it is one of the 3 or 4 remaining TRUE sphagnum bogs in the state...
i wont give out the location of this one, Ron only took me because he trusted me. It was quite the experiance, thanks for the comments...im glad the photos turned out well

 

[cp-connection]

Bogs around my house (W. NC) are thought to be as old as 10,000 years. A sales rep from my peat moss supplier told me their bogs in Canada are thought to be 15 to 20,000 years old!

 

[SirKristoff]

I imagine this bog would have to be in that age area too cp....its a pretty isolated area...

 

[PeaceCarny]

Awesome pics. Did you catch any glimpses of other CP's like invasive U. inflata?

Plus where is that bog? I'm going up to washington this summer to meet my cousins in Vancouver and it would be spectacular to go there