What I was surrounded by up above the treeline:
![](http://staff.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_0123-300x200.jpg)
What I spent most of my time looking at:
![](http://staff.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_0113-300x200.jpg)
![](http://staff.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_0106-500x500.jpg)
Signs of a Pica? I heard the tell-tale ‘eeep!’ of this small member of the rabbit family, but did not catch a glimpse.
![](http://staff.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_0105-500x500.jpg)
Picas dry out plants on rocks in the summer so they’ll keep better for the winter. Clever. See the Lousewort (Pedicularis) tips drying in the sun?
![](http://staff.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_0221-500x500.jpg)
Some kind of lichen. Anyone? Lichen are fungus and algae living together in a symbiotic relationship. I have really simplified that. Sorry lichenologists!
![](http://staff.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_0226-500x500.jpg)
Up in the mountains there are many different species of lichens growing on rocks too. How to remember what lichens are: Freddy Fungus and Alice Alga got married, and now their marriage is on the rocks. (Again, apologies, bad naturalist joke).
![](http://staff.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_0229-500x500.jpg)
I couldn’t stop taking pictures of this rock. The lichen colour was so beautiful.
![](http://staff.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_0139-500x500.jpg)
Someone’s droppings. Ptarmigan?