An old-fashioned Wayne hike, a search for rare plants

Chuck Jennings crossing Beaver Creek

Wayne Phillips leads us into Green Timber Basin

Round Leaf Orchids

 I'm glad to see that Wayne Phillips still has it in him.

Robust bushwhacking has been his hiking trademark and it has been a while since we've had one.

Phillips, who turns 80 in September, unleashed the real deal with a search for rare plants as part of his Wayne's Wednesday walks, this time in the Green Timber Basin of the Rocky Mountain Front in the Gibson Dam Area.

We were looking for rare orchids in boggy areas, some of which had been logged many years ago but which nature has done a pretty good job reclaiming.  

We found one ---- the  Round Leaf Orchid ---- just off the Beaver Creek Road, and failed on the other  --- the small Sparrow Egg Lady Slipper ---- in the Green Timber Basin.

At one time Green Timber had been roaded for timber harvest, and Wayne showed us evidence of an old sawmill operation.

When he had led Montana Native Plant Society hikes here years ago, the road was path-like, easy to follow.  Would he take those folks there now.  "Not likely," he said.

In subsequent years erosion from the road across unstable terrain has led to slumping, taking out the road in spots, and many dead trees made the road nearly impassable. Extreme heat --- in the upper 90s --- added to the challenge.

We accessed Green Timber from the Beaver Creek Road at Forest Service Road 233L down to the creek, which we had to cross.  A couple of us were able to get across on rocks without getting our feet wet.

Then it was up a steep,eroded hillside to the road with its obstacle course.

In many spots the road has been reduced to a narrow path and in other spots it is overgrown with vegetation.

It underscored how nature will heal itself if left alone.

We found another bog and some more  Round Leaf orchids in an area that had been fenced off by the Forest Service to protect its fragile wetland qualities. 

After lunch we bushwhacked over considerable deadfall to a ridge top that we followed down and where the real thrashing about began as we descended to the creek.

Following what Wayne called a "good elk trail" he led us down the south side of the Green Timber Gulch and we came out at the creek, very close to where we had crossed it to begin our hike.

We had covered about 3.5 miles and gained about 800 feet in elevation and I had hiked in a part of the Front that was new to me.