I made a second trip to the Bella Coola Valley and managed to catch the forest floor flowers at their prime. The weather was not the greatest, and the Rainbow Mountains were backed by cloud.

At the bottom of the Bella Coola Hill, the forest flowers were at their best.

Queen’s cup

Pride of place were the lady slipper orchids, of which Stuix has a great display.

And I happened to catch Lady Tweedsmuir’s lupins at their most magnificent. The seed, a tame, European variety, was given to the occupants who built the origjnal Tweedsmuir Lodge and house, which is where Lord and Lady Tweedsmuir stayed when the Tweedsmuir Park was inaugurated.. The lupins have thrived ever since.

I am not sure what this is. It looks similar to Holodiscus discolour, one of the many unrelated species known as “old man’s beard,” but the latter has solid clumps of tiny blooms.

The roadsides down valley were also in full bloom. Wild roses.

Cow parsley and “old man’s beard.”

And cow parsley again.

The weather stayed iffy, but at least it wasn’t pouring rain. The nice, green “grassy” area I knew from experience would be a dense tangle of head-high shrubs. Allowed to grow as repeated avalanches would knock down trees.

Once back at the top of the Bella Coola Hill I stopped by a slough to see what was there. A killdeer, which is not all that common in this country, was looking at me warily.

I watched the slough for a while then realized the killdeer was still there, but now hunkered down on a nest.