Olympic National Park: A Natural History PDF
Preview Olympic National Park: A Natural History
Olympic National Park (previous page) As winter snow melts back from High Divide in the central Olympics, fields of avalanche lilies flutter in the summer breeze. The glaciers of Mount Olympus in the background are still laden with winter snow. photo by keith lazelle. (above) Plants of the alpine and subalpine zones have adapted to cope with quickly changing conditions. An early summer snowfall melts back from the blossoms of spread- ing phlox. photo by keith lazelle. (right) Lake Constance and Avalanche Canyon below Mount Constance are carved into thick marine basalts of the Crescent Formation. The rugged character of the east Olympics is a product of its geological origins. photo by keith lazelle. As soon as snow melts from the high mountains, even rock faces and ridgetops burst into bloom. Spotted saxifrage, arnica, and Davidson’s penstemon grow among splintered shale near Gray Wolf Pass. photo by keith lazelle. (top) Dawn light on Mount Olympus. Collecting more than 100 feet of snowfall each year, Mount Olympus supports the lowest-elevation system of glaciers in the forty-eight contiguous states. photo by keith lazelle. (bottom) The crevassed mouth or “snout” of Blue Glacier on Mount Olympus. Like many large glaciers in the Olympics, Blue Glacier has been in fairly steady retreat since the 1920s. photo by keith lazelle. (opposite) Tufted saxifrage, mountain oxytropis, and spreading phlox are typical of the hardy low-growing plants found in Olympic’s alpine zone. Summers are short and condi- tions often severe in this realm above the trees. photo by keith lazelle. (above) An Olympic endemic, Flett’s violet, prefers rocky crevices. Blossoming in early summer, it brings a special delight to alpine scramblers. photo by keith lazelle. (above) Winter on Gray Wolf Ridge. In the heart of the northeast rainshadow, stunted lodgepole pines reach toward treeline on dry south-facing slopes. An adaptable tree, at home in stressful environments, lodgepoles also thrive in a few locations along the Pacific coast and Puget Sound. photo by keith lazelle. (opposite) One of the most beautiful of Olympic’s endemic plants, Piper’s bellflower, grows in cracks and crannies in the rocks of the high mountains. Biologists suspect it is a “paleoendemic,” a plant whose former range was erased by the Cordilleran ice sheet. Its closest relative grows more than 600 miles to the north. photo by keith lazelle.
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