Placid Lake, August 31, 2026
I went back to Placid Lake for a second time this season. I was truly amazed at how much progress I have made in this quest to regain my ability to hike and my strength. Last time was a chore, this time a pleasure. And I was surprised that there were still some flowers blooming. Plus I found some other interesting subjects.
Click on any image to enlarge it.
Sickletop Louseworts were still in flower. I saw these back in late July, and now at the end of August, there were a few plants still going strong.
The beauty and delicacy of Deer Fern always impress me.
The black stalks of the fertile fronds stand out in the green of the sterile fronds. The fertile fronds grow tall and erect while the sterile curve back down to the ground.
On the left is the Fan-Leaf Cinquefoil and the right is a Three-leaved Foamflower. The Cinquefoils were growing near the edge of the lake, while the Foamflower was along the forest trail on the hike down to the lake. On the Foamflower, notice the lower flower going to seed.
These two Gnome Plants are past prime flowering, pushing up seeds now. But I am always delighted to see this mycotrophic plant. Mycotrophics have no green parts and thus do not require sunlight for photosynthesis. It is not known which other plants the Gnome Plant feeds off, but it gets its nutrition from the roots of these other plants.
I am sure we all enjoy this, but finding insects getting pollen from wildflowers is a favorite subject for my photography. I am not familiar with many of these insects, but this one is working a Western Aster. Only a couple of these wildflowers were still in bloom, most already had gone to seed.
This was the best find along the trail: this is the inside of the cone of a Pacific Silver Fir tree. The purple coloring and the heart shade of the underside of the scales of the cone are a science marvel.
This hike is great one for anyone who wants to see a number of Mycotrophic wildflowers; I found the Gnome Plants as shown above, but also saw Pine Drops, Coralroot and Pinesap that were past flowering. So next season, I will hike this trail again to see these wildflowers.
