Spring hike Myking

Submitted by Hoy on Mon, 05/20/2013 - 01:22

Yesterday we decided to take a hike. Our goal was the highest summit in this area. The terrain here can't boast of spectacular alpine forms but is a calm undulating landscape - an undulating piece of a Precambrian peneplain tilting a little from west to east. No steep mountain sides, no avalanches either! But a lot of bogs, lakes, creeks, dry ridges and moraines. The lower parts are covered by spruce forests and pine at the driest sites. Higher up birch forests take over although the spruces are slowly creeping upwards. When my father-in-law was a boy no tree was to be seen up here.
We didn't reach our goal though, it was a though walk. The path was partly covered by deep loose snow, very soft in the heat, and the small cosy creeks were like rivers impossible to cross without getting soaked. Eventhe path was like a creek filled with meltwater. The birch woods are hard to walk in due to a lot of fallen trees. A lot of trees were killed by birch mothlarvae a couple years ago and now the dead treas make a labyrinth. The only flowering plants we did see were some grasses and sedges in the bogs. Not even the creeping azalea (Loiseleuria procumbens) was in flower. Some bumblebees looked in vain for them.
At the treeline the Norway spruce (Picea abies) makes krummholz patches consisting of one clone. The stems are young but the root can be very old. Most trees show damage (brown leaves) from blowing ice needles in winter (that's why they often lack branches and leaves in a certain height). It is not frost damage.
At this time the green clubmosses (Lycopodium clavatum) are easily seen, later they disappear in the vegetation. A big rock with red moss or rather a liverworth (Ptilidium ciliare) did catch our attention too.

Comments


Submitted by Hoy on Mon, 05/20/2013 - 01:41

The lakes are still frozen but the ice cover will disappear in a few days now.
I forgot to tell, we found a very cold frog on a patch of snow - it emerged from beneath the snow in fromnt of us. Apparently the sunrays penetrated the snow and reached the animal underneath. It looked cold but healthy and jumped along.
The fungi Pseudombrophila guildeniae and Byssonectria terrestris are restricted to the very spot where an elk peed during the winter! (The Norwegian names implies that  ;) )


Submitted by Toole on Mon, 05/20/2013 - 02:14

Nice images Trond .
Yeah the creeks look a bit wild and possibly far too cold to try crossing...

Cheers Dave.


Submitted by Lori S. on Mon, 05/20/2013 - 20:57

Great photos, Trond.  What beautiful sights and colours, even so early in the season.  Yes, those creeks do look daunting!!!


Submitted by Hoy on Wed, 05/22/2013 - 11:40

Lori wrote:

Great photos, Trond.  What beautiful sights and colours, even so early in the season.  Yes, those creeks do look daunting!!!

Toole wrote:

Nice images Trond .
Yeah the creeks look a bit wild and possibly far too cold to try crossing...

Cheers Dave.

Thanks Lori and Dave. We had hoped for more flowers but it was too early in the season and the spring was late.
We actually jumped across at the narrow ravine where the water was deep but the crossing just about 1m.


Submitted by David L on Sun, 05/26/2013 - 05:27

Toole wrote:

Yeah the creeks look a bit wild and possibly far too cold to try crossing...
Cheers Dave.

Would not have thought a little water would deter the S.P.A.T. consortium :)

Trond, A really nice selection and variety of images The terrain and vegetation looks very different from New Zealand. I liked the cold frog and fungus pictures. What is the altitude?


Submitted by Hoy on Mon, 05/27/2013 - 02:44

David wrote:

Toole wrote:

Yeah the creeks look a bit wild and possibly far too cold to try crossing...
Cheers Dave.

Would not have thought a little water would deter the S.P.A.T. consortium :)

Trond, A really nice selection and variety of images The terrain and vegetation looks very different from New Zealand. I liked the cold frog and fungus pictures. What is the altitude?

David, I think Dave was a little ironic ;D
The altitude is 1000-1200m. Not the greatest heights but at the local tree line. This part of Norway has few alpine forms, it is a former peneplain lifted up in west and formed by glaciations. If you are on it you don't see the deep valleys formed by rivers and glaciers but an undulating landscape.


Submitted by David L on Mon, 05/27/2013 - 04:23

I was wondering whether your Ptilidium ciliare was the same as the thing I photographed south of Haast on the West Coast earlier this year but I think not. The colour in both cases is truly spectacular.


Submitted by Hoy on Mon, 05/27/2013 - 04:49

David wrote:

I was wondering whether your Ptilidium ciliare was the same as the thing I photographed south of Haast on the West Coast earlier this year but I think not. The colour in both cases is truly spectacular.

David, your pictures are better than mine and I think your plant looks very similar to mine. But you have to look at the details of course: http://www.helgegg.net/page149/page149.html

It is not always that red either!


Submitted by Toole on Tue, 05/28/2013 - 02:07

David wrote:

Toole wrote:

Yeah the creeks look a bit wild and possibly far too cold to try crossing...
Cheers Dave.

Would not have thought a little water would deter the S.P.A.T. consortium :)

Not being able to swim Mr Lyttle means i have a grave fear of water --I've been known to take a shower but not a bath..... ;D
Have a safe trip to Nelson this weekend David and wow them with your presentations and photo's.Hopefully the snow will be gone from the mountain passes or it will be a slow trip around the coastal route.

Cheers Dave.


Submitted by David L on Tue, 05/28/2013 - 05:24

Thanks Dave,

I have just finished writing the presentations this evening and am resisting the temptation to continue fiddling with them. You do make a couple of cameo appearances though the shot I took on our last excursion shows you and J Fitz.receeding rapidly into the distance.


Submitted by Toole on Fri, 05/31/2013 - 02:55

Hoy

Seeing David L's. pic of the red Bryophyte on the West Coast reminded me that i have a pic of it in Fiordland closer to home  ......

Makes a colourful contrast to the snow marguerite.

Cheers Dave.


Submitted by Hoy on Sat, 06/01/2013 - 01:05

Except for the snow marguerite that view could be in the hills not far from my home! But then the red bryophyte had been a Sphagnum moss ;)