Trip Report by Helen Baker

“Find something different,” our hike leader Gail Ross challenged us.

Our group of nine were strolling on a cool green path that winds through a grove of old-growth Hemlock and Yellow-Cedar in Cypress Provincial Park. We all stopped and peered through the tree trunks and underground.

“I see something!” someone said, pointing to a clump of spindly purple stems growing straight up from the forest floor.

Gail nodded and explained the unusual coral-like growth was called Western Coralroot, a saprophytic plant. It has no chlorophyll and obtains nutrients through decaying matter in the soil.

Coralroot is just one of the wonderful plants our group learned about on a walk through the Yew Lake area on July 26. The hike took us through forest, bog and meadow habitat all the way up to Bowen Lookout. Along the way, we saw everything from the tiny carnivorous Round-Leaved Sundew to a towering 1200-year-old Hemlock.

Yew Lake and the network of streams, tarns and meadows are marshy. The pond bottoms are clay and decaying plants and poor drainage create an acidic environment that only certain plants tolerate.

Deer Cabbage and Yellow Pond-Lilies thrive in the ponds. Their thick leaves provide landing pads for dragonflies and aquatic insects. In the surrounding meadows, we saw puffy Narrow-Leaved Cotton Grass and Bog Orchid. Pearly Everlasting, Dwarf Dogwood and Sub-Alpine Spirea edged the trails.

Gail gave us the Flowering Plants in Cypress Provincial Park brochure at the beginning of the walk. This brochure is produced by Friends of Cypress Provincial Park Society and has photos and names of the sedges, wildflowers and shrubs growing in the park. As we walked, we used it to help us identify what we were seeing.

After walking through the meadows and forest, we made our way up the switchbacks to Bowen Lookout to admire the views of Howe Sound and beyond. A trio of watchful Canada Jays vied for handouts with a Steller’s Jay. We had a snack in the sun before heading back down the trail.

Gail Ross worked for the Provincial Parks for 33 years and has volunteered for Parks for another 27.  She is a long-time member of Friends of Cypress and has a wealth of knowledge on the trees, shrubs and flowers in Cypress.