We took a drive out to Kananaskis yesterday to take a look... we didn't hike but only scaled up a roadside slope to check things out, bloom-wise, and were pleased to find a nice selection of foothills/prairie plants in bloom...
The brilliant blue of Penstemon nitidus on the clay slope was what caught my eye while driving...
Along with a huge Phacelia sericea, evidently enjoying extra moisture from the road ditch right below...
Arnica cordifolia; Pyrola sp. in the trees; Castilleja miniata, just starting to bloom.
Scenery.
Comments
Re: Kananaskis preview, July 4/11
Heuchera cylindrica :
Delphinum bicolor, concentrated in a couple of little clearings:
Saxifraga bronchialis, in the ground, and also in a nice little sandstone outcrop:
Re: Kananaskis preview, July 4/11
In the lodgepole pine forest, Clematis occidentalis - some showing the usual 4 sepals, and one with 6... the same variability as one sees on cultivated plants, it seems!
In the dry forest, a few scattered, single-stem Calypso bulbosa... always nice to see:
And a strange leafless little orchid that I don't know and haven't figured out yet... any ideas? Edit: Pale coral-root orchid, Corallorhiza trifida
Back out in the sun, Geum triflorum with Habenaria viridis; Polemonium pulcherrimum:
These are very literally "rock garden" ferns... 
Re: Kananaskis preview, July 4/11
Could your orchid be a Corallorhiza sp.? When I was very young and didn't know any better, I dug one up in the woods of northern Minnesota to see the "root" structure. Very interesting indeed!
Re: Kananaskis preview, July 4/11
Good call, Rick. I think it's Corallorhiza trifida, pale coral-root. Thanks.
Antennaria in abundance on the dry, south-facing hillside; patches here and there of Sedum lanceolatum (x2); Habenaria viridis (x2) at the forest edge;
Out on the slope, Packera (Senecio) cana; lots of Erigeron compositus (x3)
Another view of the forested hillsides:
