Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Ptarmigan Cirque

An old photo, taken on 1st September 2005. This was the first time I had ever seen this brilliantly coloured wild plant. It was growing high up in the mountains, on a hike at Ptarmigan Cirque in Kananaskis. This plant grows on moist alpine scree slopes and rocky outcrops. LOL, today, we are in the middle of a major snowstorm!

This pretty wildflower was growing up in the mountains at Ptarmigan Cirque two days ago. A member of the Rose family, it grows on alpine slopes June-July. The white flower is 2-4 cm across, has 8-10 hairy sepals, 8 petals, and numerous stamens and pistils. Love to see it growing against the rocks like this.

Another photo taken way back on 1st September 2005, on a hike at Ptarmigan Cirque in Kananaskis. I think the red leaves are from Fireweed, but I could be wrong. The mountain in the distance is bare, and forms part of the Cirque here. It is such a beautiful place and I would go there again if I could. Cetainly worth the steep climb to get up there.

It was a real treat yesterday to have the chance to go on the Ptarmigan Cirque Trail in Kananaskis, Rocky Mountains! The trail is quite steep, leading up to alpine meadows and amazing views over deep valleys, scree slopes, alpine meadows, and jagged, barren mountain peaks. We see different plants up here, of course; ones that we don't get in the city. The lovely yellow Glacier Lily, seen above, is just one of them. Today, I am letting my body recover before setting out on a day of botanizing tomorrow, returning to a lovely property near Millarville, south west of the city. We are so lucky being allowed to go back again, to record more of the plants, birds, insects, animals and fungi, etc..

Some species of Buttercup, presumably, tucked away into a little space between the lichen-covered rocks at Ptarmigan Cirque, Kananaskis. Taken during a day hike on that trail on 11th July.

We find this little wildflower up in the mountains in alpine and subalpine meadows - this was seen along the Ptarmigan Cirque trail, in Kananaskis (Rocky Mountains) in July. This native plant is in flower June-July.

I was thrilled to see a few tiny clumps of Roseroot yesterday, high up on scree on a hike at Ptarmigan Cirque in Kananaskis, Rocky Mountains! This plant is in the Stonecrop family, is native, and grows June-July. It grows on moist alpine scree slopes and rocky outcrops. A very attractive succulent.

This is just one of the many different views on the Ptarmigan Cirque Trail in Kananaskis, Rocky Mountains. The narrow trail continues off to the right of my photo and leads to a spectacular cirque, barren mountain peaks and scree slopes. I've only ever been here about six times, but it is a favourite place of mine. It's also a favourite Grizzly Bear area, and we saw an area where a bear had very obviously been digging - and it looked very fresh : ) ! It's a steep climb to get up to the alpine meadows, but one is rewarded with wonderful alpine flowers and views. "Elevation Gain: 230 m (755 ft). Ptarmigan Cirque is a high mountain bowl (cirque)above the Highwood Pass in Kananaskis Country. It is billed as an interpretive trail, but the first kilometre is quite steep. But stick with it because the cirque area itself is worth the effort. Besides interpretive trails have those little signs every now and then where you can legitimately stop and rest while you slowly read the text. Once you leave the trees the trail levels out considerably. The landscape in the cirque is quite stark, but the views are fantastic. You can stay on the trail or head further up the cirque along a faint trail. you can also go further up to Mt. Rae from here, but that's a scramble for another time." From www.trailpeak.com .

This little guy/gal let me get surprisingly close when I was on a hike along the Ptarmigan Cirque Trail (Kananaskis, Rocky Mountains) two days ago. I'd hoped (well, kind of!) for a Grizzly Bear, but had to make do with this little Columbian Ground Squirrel, LOL. However, we did see an area where a Grizzly had been digging up the ground - and it looked very recent : ) "This is the largest Alberta ground squirrel, similar in appearance to the Richardsons Ground Squirrel. A difference noted immediately, besides it usually slightly larger size, is the rusty orange colour around the nose which often extends to the throat and forelegs and sometimes to the undersides, although this area has more of a yellowing wash. It has a somewhat longer, more bushy, frosty, dark-tipped tail. The head and nape is a slate grey. The short, fine fur has three bands of colours, resulting in the back being a decidedly dappled yellowish grey.... Highwood Pass is a good area to find these animals." From talkaboutwildlife.ca .

A neat mix of colours and textures in these various Lichens, photographed on a boulder up at Ptarmigan Cirque, Kananaskis (Rocky Mountains).

I think I'm right in saying that this is White Mountain Avens. Saw it high up at Ptarmigan Cirque, Kananaskis, last year. Even a splash or two of orange Lichen - hey, Doug, maybe your eyes will go straight to the Lichen, LOL! I've only been maybe four or five times, but it is one of my favourite places.

I was fascinated by the gorgeous yellowy green colour and patterns of this lichen, which was growing on some of the boulders high up in the mountains on the Ptarmigan Cirque trail (off Highway 40 that goes through Kananaskis country). I felt it had a Native/Aboriginal/Seventh Nation feel about it. Thanks, Robin and Cedric, for an absolutely perfect day, hiking this trail yesterday!

This was quite a spectacular cloud formation, seen over Ptarmigan Cirque in Kananaskis country yesterday. Though this particular photo doesn't do justice to the scenery, I wanted to capture the cloud (and without any people in the shot). It is one of my favourite places, though I have only ever been there maybe four or five times ever. I will be posting further photos over the next few days that give a much better idea of the magnificent scenery, diiferent in each direction. Thanks, Robin and Cedric, for this absolutely perfect day out in the mountains!

One of those very inelegant moments was required to get this shot, but it sums up a little of the absolute beauty that I experienced yesterday! It was one of the most perfect days I've had, hiking the trail up to Ptarmigan Cirque in Kananaskis. This is one of my favourite places (not that I've been to many places), and to get the chance to go when the wildflowers were beautiful was wonderful. These are Western Anemones - many of them were well past their prime, but this little cluster was still in good shape. Robin and Cedric - if you happen to read this, you both did a great job with this trip and I hope you will repeat it next year. You succeeded brilliantly in allowing more than plenty of time to soak up the amazing scenery, to explore for wildflowers, to stop and take (endless, in my case, LOL) photos! Thanks, Robin, for taking the time to prepare an excellent plant list, too. As for the strawberry milkshakes at Kananaskis Village afterwards - well, that was certainly an added enjoyment! Thanks so much for giving me a ride there and back, too - appreciated greatly! A job well done!

Roseroot is in the Stonecrop family and grows on moist, alpine scree slopes and rocky outcrops - which is definitely where we were yesterday! The flowers are dark purple to reddish yellow. These ones were growing high up the Ptarmigan Cirque trail (off Highway 40 in Kananaskis) and seemed to be some of the first ones to open.

We saw several small clumps of this very colourful Moss Campion high up on the Ptarmigan Cirque Trail in Kananaskis last weekend. This plant is a member of the Pink family and grows in alpine meadows and scree slopes, June-July.

Took this photo on a hike at Ptarmigan Cirque in Kananaskis, off Highway 40, on 1st September 2005. "Larches are conifers in the genus Larix, in the family Pinaceae. They are deciduous trees, growing from 15-50 m tall. The leaves are needle-like, 2-5 cm long, slender (under 1 mm wide). They are borne singly, spirally arranged on the long shoots, and in dense clusters of 20-50 needles on the short shoots. The needles turn yellow and fall in the late autumn, leaving the trees leafless through the winter. Larches are often used in bonsai culture, where their knobby bark, small needles, fresh spring foliage and especially autumn colour are appreciated." Adapted from Wikipedia.

One of my favorite places is Ptarmigan Cirque, in Kananaskis Country, and this is a view in just one direction. You see a completely different kind of scenery in each direction, which is part of the appeal. I was walking and exploring just near the base of this scree slope.