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posted: July 1st, 2017 |
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As it says at the bottom of Page 4, this page continues on June 19th at 2:07 PM at Eagle Summit. We were hiking the Pinnell Mountain Trail and made it a bit past mile marker 2 before hearing thunder and realizing that a storm was coming our way. We headed back, but got caught in the storm when we were only about 10 minutes from our rig. Such is life! In Row 8 we jump to June 20th and some photos from farther out the Steese Highway beyond Central, Alaska, where we found a Lady Slipper Orchid. Then, in Row 16 we briefly take you to Wickersham Dome and in Row 18 we proceed to the Grapefruit Rocks Area, where we found a second species of Lady Slipper Orchid. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| June 19th Continues from Page 4 (at 2:07 PM) |
Okay, we are continuing our hike of the Pinnell Mountain Trail from the Eagle Summit end and the time here for the first photo in Row 1 is 2:07 PM. This first photo shows a nice patch of Lagotis minor. The second photo shows a single flower of it and the third photo is once again, a shot of Gentiana glauca.
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The first image in this row is cropped out of the previous photo of Gentiana glauca. The second shot is another example of it and the third shot is the same species, but a yellow/white - albino - form of it.
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The first shot in this row is another of the albino form of Gentiana glauca. The second and third shots show a Lapland Longspur (Calcarius lapponicus). We saw several of this bird, but never very close. Both of these shots are quite zoomed.
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Here are three scenery shots taken from the Pinnell Mountain Trail. The first two of them show Kazuya. The second one is a 170° iPhone panorama.
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Here are three more shots taken along the trail. The second shot shows that we have reached Mile 2 of the Pinnell Mountain Trail. The third shot shows a distant rainstorm which may be coming toward us.
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In first and third position are shots of Pedicularis capitata. The center shot was taken to show the general ground cover at this spot. I shot it using the Vivid Mode on my camera so that it would show up as colors other than merely shades of brown. It really was amazing to see, even if not as Vivid as this shot seems.
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We found a large patch of Shooting Star (Dodecatheon frigidum) and stopped to take several photos. We had heard thunder and noted that clouds seemed to be headed our way more or less from the north. We were headed back to our rig, but we just could not pass by this patch of Shooting Stars without getting some photos. Well, we got caught by the storm when we were only about 10 minutes from the safety of our rig. We were fairly well prepared and at the first drops of rain we had stopped and put on our rain jackets, but we did not have rain pants. When the storm came it was accompanied by hail about 1/8th - 1/4th inch in diameter and that stung when it hit. Of course the wind was strong. We were going really fast at that point, but our legs got soaked. We got back to the rig and sat inside with the heater going until the storm passed, which happened in about 15 minutes. Then we changed our clothes, cooked our supper and went about our normal activities. We slept in the canopy on our pickup and it did not rain again. We had been hoping for clear skies so that we could watch the sun NOT set from this location, but it was cloudy. If you want to see the sun NOT set then please go to our June 23rd and 24th trip to this place last year and scroll down to about Row 10 to watch the sun NOT set.
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| End June 19th, Begin June 20th |
Now it is June 20th. It's sunny again and we have driven another few miles up the Steese Highway. We passed through Central, Alaska and kept going a few more miles because Kazuya had read on the internet that we might find a Lady Slipper Orchid here. Well, we stopped several places and walked into the woods for some distance. We hunted and hunted and finally just when we were ready to give up and were approaching the rig for the final time to get in and leave, Kazuya found one of them right beside the rig! We walked up and down the highway and found several of them. So, the first and third shots in this row show the Northern Lady Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium passerinum). The center shot shows a nice example of Epilobium angustifolium - Fireweed.
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Here are three more images which show the Northern Lady Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium passerinum).
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And, another three shots of the Northern Lady Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium passerinum). In the third photo you may notice some brown on some of the flowers. We found this all along here and had also seen it for 10 miles before we got here. We had to assume that there had been an extremely late frost which had damaged the flower buds here. There had even been frost warnings in Fairbanks just 10 days before this.
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In the first shot in this row you can see how close the Northern Lady Slipper Orchids (Cypripedium passerinum) were growing to our rig and the highway! The second and third photos show Corallorhiza trifida - (Yellow Coral Root) - another Orchid.
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Here are another three photos of the Northern Lady Slipper Orchids (Cypripedium passerinum).
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In first position in this row is a shot of an unknown flower and then two shots of some species of Paintbrush (Castilleja sp.).
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Now we have finished shooting the Orchids and are headed back towards Eagle Summit. We noticed this different Cottongrass and stopped to take some shots of it. You may recall that all Cottongrass we have photographed in the past had only one puff of cotton on each stalk, while this Eriophorum angustifolium has several puffs of cotton on each stem and that the cotton puffs are not at the apex of the plant.
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These two photos show Birch Creek (first photo) and Twelvemile Creek (second photo) from the Upper Birch Creek Wayside, at Milepost 94 of the Steese Highway. Birch Creek is a National Wild River. If you'd like to see a PDF Map of this Wild River which is suitable for printing CLICK HERE. This spot is shown on the map as "Mile 0".
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| End June 20th, Begin June 26th & 27th |
On June 26th we went out to Wickersham Dome again. We had planned to climb to the summit, but we discovered that we were both too tired to make it. We DID make it far enough to find the primary species which we had hoped to find here though. All three photos in this row show Castilleja elegans - the Elegant Paintbrush. WOW! Yes, it certainly is ELEGANT!
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Here are two more shots of Castilleja elegans - the Elegant Paintbrush and then a scenery shot in which you can find the summit of Wickersham Dome - search for the radio tower in the photo.
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In first position in this row is a Campanula lasiocarpa. The second photo shows another Castilleja elegans (Elegant Paintbrush) and that finishes the photos from Wickersham Dome. We went back to the rig and drove another 10 miles up the Elliott Highway, to the Grapefruit Rocks Area, primarily because we wanted to see if the Anticlea elegans (Mountain Deathcamas) (Page 1, Row 8) was in bloom yet. Well, when we stepped out of the rig one of the first things that Kazuya said was "Here's another Lady Slipper Orchid!" And, sure enough, he was not joking, so the third shot in this row shows Cypripedium guttatum - The Spotted Lady Slipper Orchid.
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Here are three more shots of Cypripedium guttatum - The Spotted Lady Slipper Orchid. There were several of them here.
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And another three shots of Cypripedium guttatum - The Spotted Lady Slipper Orchid. Note the previous year seedpod in the third shot.
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When we take Orchid photos, we always take a great number of them, even though we use digital cameras and can see if they appear to be good shots or poor shots, one never knows, so we do not hesitate to keep taking more and more photos.
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Here are the final two shots of Cypripedium guttatum - The Spotted Lady Slipper Orchid. Then we hiked a ways up the Grapefruit Rocks trail and we did find the Anticlea elegans - Mountain Deathcamas to be in bloom.
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Here are two more shots of Anticlea elegans - Mountain Deathcamas - flowers and then a shot of the plant.
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Here is a final shot of the flowers of Anticlea elegans - Mountain Deathcamas and then a nice reflection in a pond along the highway as we headed back towards Fairbanks. We stopped at Olnes Pond and spent the night there in our pickup canopy and the final shot - Epilobium angustifolium - Fireweed - was taken there. And -- that's the final shot for June.
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| End June 26th & 27th, End June 2017's Photos, Begin Miscellaneous Links |
Here are links to separate web pages - all of them will open in a new window (or new tab). The first link shows some photos of our DVD Collection, an AVI Movie of our Home Theater System and 9 photos of our Sharp Aquos TV. The 2nd link shows our entire DVD collection in DVD Profiler (if you're asking yourself what might be good to rent for the weekend). The DVD's will be sorted by date purchased. You can click on the "Title" Column to sort that way if you desire. The 3rd link shows our entire DVD collection in php DVD Profiler, which is much more sophisticated than the plain vanilla DVD Profiler just above it. The 4th link takes you to a set of pages which show you the FRONT cover-art of our entire DVD collection.
