Yesterday we decided to take a hike. Our goal was the highest summit in this area. The terrain here can't boast of spectacular alpine forms but is a calm undulating landscape - an undulating piece of a Precambrian peneplain tilting a little from west to east. No steep mountain sides, no avalanches either! But a lot of bogs, lakes, creeks, dry ridges and moraines. The lower parts are covered by spruce forests and pine at the driest sites. Higher up birch forests take over although the spruces are slowly creeping upwards. When my father-in-law was a boy no tree was to be seen up here.
We didn't reach our goal though, it was a though walk. The path was partly covered by deep loose snow, very soft in the heat, and the small cosy creeks were like rivers impossible to cross without getting soaked. Eventhe path was like a creek filled with meltwater. The birch woods are hard to walk in due to a lot of fallen trees. A lot of trees were killed by birch mothlarvae a couple years ago and now the dead treas make a labyrinth. The only flowering plants we did see were some grasses and sedges in the bogs. Not even the creeping azalea (Loiseleuria procumbens) was in flower. Some bumblebees looked in vain for them.
At the treeline the Norway spruce (Picea abies) makes krummholz patches consisting of one clone. The stems are young but the root can be very old. Most trees show damage (brown leaves) from blowing ice needles in winter (that's why they often lack branches and leaves in a certain height). It is not frost damage.
At this time the green clubmosses (Lycopodium clavatum) are easily seen, later they disappear in the vegetation. A big rock with red moss or rather a liverworth (Ptilidium ciliare) did catch our attention too.
