record of an herbarium foray, part III

[jinian]

Up at barely dawn to go to bathroom. Cold, but walked over and back staring at starry sky like mooncalf, even though I could barely see the path. This was a problem when someone was waiting outside the toilet after I finished, eek! Possibly the scare was why I couldn't sleep more. Venus so bright, though, and I think not even at full by its shape.

Went in the herbarium boss' group to the Monument Wilderness. First stop, Table Rock fire lookout.





High elevation, about 7450 feet, and very exposed. Lots of very fragrant lupine. Lunch on the fire lookout balcony.







Also collected on the next ridge down, where we found different lupine, sagebrush. Mimulus nanus in what looked like rain washes mostly; I found 'em first but they proved to be all over, just mostly not blooming.





We saw scarlet gilia and collected a Cynoglossum on the way down, and I managed to injure the van slightly on one of many sawed-off fallen branches. Oops.

Last intentional stop: Elk Flat Springs, with very different flora. Wet meadow with corn-lilies, Pedicularis, 3 kinds of wacky yellow Mimulus.



Wet shoes came on last stop of last day, quite acceptable.

Flat tire on 15-passenger van on the way home is apparently a tradition, and people were accordingly very competent at fixing it. Superfluous personnel ate trail mix, found white penstemon and flower of my childhood (Collomia grandiflora!) at the dramatically sloping roadside, documented tire-changing process for hearbarium web site.

Hips surprisingly stiff and sore from yesterday's hike; foot poor and limited what I could do; blessedly free of most other health issues. Overpeopled, though, despite liking most of them.

Still loads of snacks left over as little time to eat them on collecting trips (despite needing more food fairly often). Being with the boss was helpful with that, since he gave us defined tasks, so breaks made more sense than when we're self-paced/competing.

Hid out in the tent all evening after dinner By Myself. Not ideal, but needed down time and foot was too sad for walking. Tired of sleeping on the ground, but also feeling like I'd gotten the hang of camping finally.

Talked loopily to lakmiseiru when she came to bed. I had claimed not to be asleep but do not think that was really correct. She had good interactions with people and bragged about my plant-finding, yay.