Another morning of somewhat threatening weather, with a forecast of clearing by afternoon. But it wasn’t raining so we headed up from Cameron Lake. We were at Summit Lake in about an hour, but there was no enticement to go swimming under the cloudy skies. After a short break we headed up to the ridge that is Carthew summit. The flowers along the trail clinging to the scree slope were beautiful, notably clumps of creeping beardtongue. There were enough patches of various cushion plants to supply a furniture factory. The closer to the high point we got the windier it became and there were many stops to add clothing layers. Some participants took the short option to the outlier at the east end of the trail summit ridge to check out the views:


Lakes Wurdeman and Nooney in Glacier Park beyond the clumps of beardtongue on Carthew Ridge

Mount Carthew from outlier

Your scribe’s mini-thermometer registered +6C degrees at that point. With the strong wind it felt quite cold walking back along the ridge to where the trail down to Carthew Lakes commenced. Even below the ridgeline the wind seemed to swirl around strongly and it made one appreciate the tenacity of the many clumps of flowering plants beside the trail:


Cushion buckwheat (Eriogonum ovalifolium) near Carthew trail summit

 Some of the participants were able to spot another hardy inhabitant of the area:


A bighorn poseur near Carthew trail summit

 Further down other plants managed a toehold:


Lyall's scorpionweed (Phacelia lyallii) at lower Carthew Lake

 We stopped for lunch closer to the Lower Carthew Lake, but even there the wind kept changing direction and we were cooled down after sitting for a while:


A chilly lunch spot at Lower Carthew Lake: Aldis, Nancy, Kathy, Mario, Jane & Barbara

 It finally started warming up as the clouds began to blow away and it was quite pleasant by the time we got to the more sheltered environs of Alderson Lake. The walk from there back to the townsite was through forest with lush undergrowth and we could de-layer down to shorts and t-shirt:


Forest trail to townsite below Alderson Lake

 By the time we reached the parking at Cameron Falls it was +26C for a fine finish to the weekend. <p>This day’s co-adventurers were: Francisco, guest Maria, Jane, Nardi Meden, Mario Festival, Kathy Brisco (photos), Barbara Mitchell, Teresa Leszczynska , Christine, Aldis, Nancy and Ron, C/S/P; plus, quasi-officially, the botanical duo of Arnold and Bill who did Carthew summit out & back.