I went for a different hike today because the tram was closed. I had hiked up to about 8,800 feet and gone close to 5 miles when I came across a two hikers who had stopped to photograph a flower. I was glad to see that they had stopped because I might have overlooked it. It is a Pulsatilla otherwise known as a pasqueflower. Since it blooms around the time of Easter, it has the name pasque which means: of Easter.
Larger images will be over in the Journal when I post all of the images there.
The two men also told me about a flowering cactus that they had seen just a short ways up the trail. I had almost decided to turn around because my boots were bothering me but the idea of finding a flowering cactus so high up the mountain so early in the season intrigued me. I had seen the first claret cactus in bloom down around 6,500 feet and I could not imagine another cactus blooming so high on the mountain.
Commonly known at a mountain ball cactus, its scientific name is Pediocactus simpsonii. It is one of the most cold hardy species which it would have to be, seeing as I found it in a very narrow range on the south peak approach above 9,300 feet. It grows very low to the ground and is not of significant note except when it is blooming.
by David Alan
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