Sunny skies to start led to early delayering and the usual muddy spots were almost all dry so the going was easy. As we got nearer to the treeline there were impressive expanses of fireweed:

sea of fireweed on Mt Lipsett trail

There were also lots of other flowers (is this the year of Grass-of-parnassus?) and there were views across the valley to Mount Storelk with only a slight smoke haze. Our sea level residing guest stopped at the last outlier before the peak and only two went to the summit, returning to join us for lunch:


Distant Mist Mtn from Lipsett trail

It was a pleasant place for a leisurely meal and there was opportunity to check out a few alpine flowers:


flowers in the rocks

By this time there had been a lot of cloud building going on so we started our descent, although there was time for an extended break at treeline:


guest Karen, Barb, Rosanne & Ron

Mormon fritillary (Speyeria mormonia) butterfly on a fleabane

Rumblings of thunder got us going again and there was the start of some raindrops for a while, but then the rain got a more serious along with lightning and loud thunderclaps quite nearby. Rain gear was called for and the bushes along the overgrown sections of the trail became somewhat soggy. Areas of the trail that had been dry on the way up became puddles and muddy in spots. Of course the rain finally ceased just as we arrived at the cars. As we drove down highway 40 it was only a few kilometres east that it was apparent from the dry pavement that our hour and a half rain thunderstorm has been locallized near Mount Lipsett. We did get an animal viewing bonus at the usual spot east of Highwood Junction:


sheep along Highway 541

Thanks to our small group of participants for joining me: Rosanne, Philip (photos), Barbara and guest Karen Brannon (sheep photo). Ron, coordinator and photos.