American Alps Meadow Stewards: August 2014

The ground is drying out on Goat Mountain. Most of the creeks that the trail crosses are dry and many of the early flowers are done blooming. Black Huckleberries and Cascade Blueberries are even starting to ripen! The weather was very warm and the bumble bees were spending most of their time on Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium). One patch of Fireweed that was no bigger than 30 feet in diameter had more than 30 bees! Perhaps on account of the abundance of bees, their visits to individual flower blossoms were very brief. However, I noticed that the bumblebees would spend a minute or more on Edible Thistle (Cirsium edule).