In the mountain meadows on the lower reaches of Mount Eddy I expected to find wildflowers and I did. I was surprised how many and varied they were higher up. This looked to be an arid and unforgiving environment of stones, shale and rock.

 In fact there was if anything a greater variety of species than down below in the meadows. There were no carpets of green here but there were plants dotted all around the parched ground. I assume they are watered by the first flush of snow melt and are adapted to cling on in nooks and niches during the baking sun of the summer months.
 Identifying them will really stretch my botany and research so for now I will simply post a small selection of the ones I saw. Please feel free to help me out on the names if anyone reading this diary is a connoisseur of plants that flourish among rocks in Northern California at elevations above 7000 feet...