RHH's photos with the keyword: yellowhead highway

The green bog orchids are notoriously difficult to identify and intergrade with each other, but this fits the description of Platanthera huronensis, the Green Bog Orchis, quite well. These can grow quite tall, up to three feet and can have around eighty flowers per spike. The individual flowers, however, are quite small and nondescript as is evident from the photo. This was photographed along the highway in Mount Robson Provincial Park in British Columbia.

Coming east on the Yellowhead Highway from Tete Jaune Cache, one is treated to endless views of Mount Robson in all its grandeur - if it is not hidden in the clouds. Even on a clear day like this Robson creates its own weather and is often capped with clouds. They say that it is completely visible only seven days a year, but even then it is awesome.

Taken along the Yellowhead Highway between the towns of Blue River and Valemont, this scene is quite typical of the area. There are thousands of bog orchids growing in the ditches and on the banks along the highway, here two species, Platanthera stricta, the Slender Bog Orchis with its green flowers, and Platanthera dilatata, the Tall White Northern Bog Orchis. There are also a few Indian Paintbrush mixed in with the orchids.

This is another orchid we found growing with the Lady's Slippers, though in a slightly more sunny area. It is the Northern Green Bog Orchis and though the green Bog Orchids freely interbreed and are often hard to distinguish, this pretty well fits very well the description of that species. The forward-curving spur which is shorter than the lip, the yellowish lip, and within the flower the anther sacs at the base of the flowers and forming a kind of inverted vee shape are all diagnostic. These are, obviously, not as beautiful as the Lady's Slippers but of interest because they are orchids. As the name suggests they like wet areas and are often found in ditches along the road as this was.

Taken early in the morning as were traveling up the Yellowhead Highway through British Columbia. This photo and others of our trip can be seen at: ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/07/british-col...

Lilium columbianum is the Pacific Northwest's version of the Tiger Lily. These were growing everywhere along the Yellowhead Highway north of Blue River and we stopped several times early in the morning to take pictures. The tallest plants were six feet tall and really stood out against the background of trees. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/07/british-col...

We found these native orchids growing everywhere along the Yellowhead Highway in British Columbia on our way to Edmonton. Their erect spikes are 12-24 inches tall and they grow in boggy areas. Since the white color stands out against the surrounding vegetation, they are aptly called the Bog Candle. There are three varieties of this species distinguished by the length of the spur, which probably indicates different pollinators. This variety, albiflora, has a spur that is shorter than the lip. Variety dilatata has a spur equal to the length of the lip and variety leucostachys has a spur considerable longer than the lip. For a description of our trip to Edmonton see: ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/07/british-col... . Other entries in the blog describe our backpacking trip at Mount Robson Provincial Park the following week.

Another photo of one of the black bears, mother and cub, we saw in Mount Robson Park while traveling to Edmonton. She and the cub had been foraging in the ditch along the road - that's the reason her hindquarters are wet. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/07/british-col...

Photographed along the Yellowhead Highway west of Jasper in Mount Robson Provincial Park. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/07/british-col...