Day 130: Flowers of a different kind

This year we seem to be re-visiting places we first went five years ago. This weekend is the BC-day long weekend, and we had arranged to spend it on the Sunshine Coast, taking in some spots we visited back in 2006. The main driver was a boat trip to Princess Louisa Inlet (tomorrow) but we were also drawn back by the fact that this weekend would see strong tides at the Skookumchuck Narrows. Back in 2006 we'd seen the narrows at a medium tide, and there really wasn't much to see - a few whirlpools and some gentle rapids (if that makes sense...). The tide didn't get particularly low so the rock pools weren't visible.

But the rapids (which were quite spectacular today) were pushed into second place by our discovery of what can only be described as a grove of Indian Pipe. Like the more commonly-seen coralroot and pinesap, Indian Pipe obtains its nutrients from decaying matter rather than by photosynthesis. It has no chlorophyll and indeed almost no colouring at all so it appears as a ghostly white plant on the forest floor (it's also known as the ghost plant). We'd seen in only once before on Vancouver Island in 2005, so I was over the moon to see it again. I couldn't believe that so much of it was growing so close to the busy trail. At one spot, it was growing everywhere and I was spoiled for choice of flowers to photograph. In the end I settled on this large "bunch" :-)

A bunch of Indian Pipe