The Trip:
Fourth of July was
approaching, and Beth and I were looking for something more fun than the
usual hang-out-and-watch-fireworks. Should we go cow-tipping?
Too unlikely. Perhaps start an international drug cartel? Too easy.
Use our paranormal skills to capture ghosts? Done that. Instead, we decided
to go camping in Lassen National Park (and thereabouts) for a few days.
Lassen is my favorite national park in California. Yes, it even
beats out Yosemite. It is so neat because it is
geothermally and volcanically active. It has hot springs, bubbling lakes,
sulphur vents, boiling mud ponds, recent lava flows, cinder cones, and all
sorts of other interesting features. It is crazy! Mountains of Madness!
Lassen also has all the usual alpine
splendors you get with uber-tall mountains, such as clear lakes, snow
fields, great birds, bears, towering conifers, and other neat plants.
Lassen is also a hot spot for carnivorous plants. It contains two species of
sundews, a hybrid between them, and four species of native
Utricularia. In this field trip, I describe the first two days of
our trip, which were spent in a particularly carnivorous-plant-rich area.
One comment I would like particularly to make is on the strange
Drosera anglica that occurs in California. This plant has tremendously
long, narrow leaves. They are so narrow that some specimens almost mimic
Drosera capensis! Don't believe me? Read on...
Start the photo-essay!
