Snow in Glacier Park

We headed up to Glacier Park with our skis this morning for our traditional snow trek at Logan Pass.

Anna and Warren at Logan Pass, with Mt. Reynolds behind.

Looking in the direction where we'll be skiing.

 We hiked on our skis (with skins) up to the ridge on the left side of the photo just above.  Where there is a melted out place with rock and gravel (center/left), is where I waited for Warren while he climbed the ridge to take a long run--affectionately known to us as "Anna's Rock."

My view of Going-To-The-Sun Mountain and down the St. Mary's valley.

Down by the visitor's center there were some melted out places that had the typical combination of Glacier Lily, Western Pasqueflower, and little Spring Beauties:

So with all this snow up high, do you think I would be able to find any flowers?  Of course!  But they were all little newbies just getting started.  For example:

This is teeny-tiny as you can tell from my red bandana; it was growing in a crack in the very rock where I was sitting.   Meanwhile, Warren headed up to the ridge:

The climb is steep enough that he kick-steps up the snow;
he is holding on to an ice-ax, and his skis are strapped on his pack.

Back to flowers.  I found moss campion buds, saxifrage buds and little soft willow buds emerging:

Moss Campion

Western Saxifrage bud

some type of willow

White Dryas bud

White Dryas flower

Then I found little clusters of Northern Anemone, related to Pasqueflower, but much smaller.

if these look like Dryas, notice the difference in the foliage.

Whoa! Here comes Warren zipping down the hill with no warning!  Then he headed off towards Mt. Reynolds for one more run.

Just a few more little alpine beauties to go... the tiny alpine version of King's Crown or Rose Root; compare this with the King's Crown we saw on Wheeler Peak!

Then nature gave me a textbook flower identification lesson.  Side by side were Yellow Mountain Heath and White Mountain Heather.  I could never be sure about the difference until today.

White Mountain Heather

Yellow Mountain Heath

There were lots of familiar flowers growing along the road, but I'll save those for when I see them on the trail.  We did stop at one waterfall, where there were lots of shooting stars growing.