Western Moss-heather: Cassiope mertensiana

Western Moss-heather is a beautiful plant that grows high up in the alpine environment in northwestern United States, Alaska and Canada. We happened across a nice patch flowering a few weeks ago.

Beautiful little bells hanging from redish stems with the plants growing about 4-5 inches tall at most.

Some patches almost seems to be growing directly out of the rocks along this wind whipped slope.

A flower we don’t encounter every summer on our hikes but one we will always remember.

Just a handful

A Milbert’s Tortoiseshell Butterfly sips sweet nectar on an August afternoon. While many of the butterflies we see are present in great numbers through the summer there are some we only see a handful of and then only for a few weeks at the most. The Milbert’s is one of them.

Another not so frequent observation is the Red Admiral.

The Pink-Edged Sulphur is always one of the most skittish and elusive of butterflies for us to photograph each summer. They seem to have that sixth sense and fly away even before we can get within range.

Another butterfly we only see a handful of each summer is not a butterfly at all but a moth. The Police-car Moth to be exact.