They appeared like an apparition, suddenly in amazing carpets of vivid pink and white with delicate lacy fringes at their throats: Gaywings, Polygala paucifolia — Thorpee’s flower! One of our most beautiful flowers! I’ve never seen so many!
The Gaywings grew mostly in the rich cedar duff on which we walked a good portion of the day. It’s wonderful stuff underfoot — soft, absorbent, & springy. If we could walk all day on that stuff .
Another of our extravagantly coloured flowers appeared later today, mostly on the cedar & juniper alvars: Paimted Scarlet Cup, Castilleja coccinia. Deep rich reds are notoriously difficult for digital cameras to capture, and the ragged bracts which give the flower head its distinctive colour certainly fall onto this category.
A little beauty!
#blazeoftheday — I love shingle beaches! Reminds me so much of Porlock Beach …
#blazeoftheday
#shitoftheday #senselessforestgrazing #pasturebeside
Tracing My Natural World — Traillium 
Beautiful Mark. You must have mixed emotions knowing that you are coming to the end of your walk. It is both exhilarating but also sad – knowing that one day soon you will have reached your goal. I am proud to know you. LYAB
Thanks, Paul. I can hardly believe what I’m seeing when I look at where we are on the map!
So neat that you have walked all the way back into spring! It’s been chilly the past few day s- I hope that is better than the heat we had before!
xoxox, G
Great walking weather — and good sleeping weather too! No bugs. What’s not to love about it?
How cool is this!!? You can smell the end of the trail from there! Savour these final moments of an incredible journey Mark. Great that Kookork and Delta are still with you. Say Hi for me.
Thanks, Dave — what a fine journey, indeed!