Отрывок из книги
Mount Rainier over Mirror Lake
National Park Service personnel who provided information, read drafts, or otherwise shared their considerable expertise: Scott Beason, Dan Camiccia, Craig Cope, Geoff Walker, and James Ziolkowski.
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As you climb into the midelevation forest zone, which fills the area from 2,700 feet to 4,000–6,000 feet depending on local conditions, you encounter a different mix of conifers. The most notable species here are Pacific silver firs, Alaska yellow cedars, western white pines, and noble firs. The trees here are generally smaller than those at lower elevations, but the forests are usually more diverse in size and age. One of the most delightful understory species in this zone is the huckleberry, which provides a tasty feast in late summer.
Above the forests are the subalpine parklands, which spectacularly host so much of the Wonderland Trail. These make up about 23% of the park’s area and include many of the park’s most popular road-accessible locations, such as Paradise and Sunrise. Here trees come only in scattered clumps, so you are no longer in forest. Instead the dominant vegetation is grasses, sedges, low-growing shrubs, and amazingly abundant wildflowers. What trees exist are often picturesquely contorted by wind and heavy snowfall and include whitebark pines, mountain hemlocks, subalpine firs, Alaska yellow cedars, and a few Engelmann spruces.
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