Heather Meadows

This past Thursday Conan and I joined Great Grandma Joy, my cousin Fergus and his fiance Svea, and my cousin Heather and her two girls Hazel and Hannah for a picnic and hike up at Heather Meadows. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and we had a great time. We had a delicious lunch, and then set off down the trail to Bagley lakes to explore.
The snowfield in the middle right of this picture is where we hiked to, we went around the upper Bagley lake, across the snowfield at the head, and came back up the meadows at the bottome of Table Mtns scree slope. The blueberries and huckleberries were ripe and abundant, we ate them by the handfuls as we walked. The lowbush berries were just thick, and sooo sweet.

Conan really enjoyed his first time in an alpine environment. What he didn't enjoy was getting slathered with sunscreen every couple of hours, but mama insisted. Got to keep that pale baby skin protected!

Hazel, Svea, Hannah and Fergus crossing the stone bridge at the lower end of the lake.
Grandma Joy, looking back from the head of upper Bagley lake.
The wildflowers were surprisingly abundant for as late in the season as it was. There were thick, beautiful stands of Grass-of-Parnassus, asters, and arnica along the lakeside trail. Up close to the snowfield where the ground had just recently been exposed we found monkey flowers, waterleaf and marsh marigolds.
Conan rode in the Ergo on my back most of the way, and seemed very comfortable. He fell asleep for about an hour in the middle of the hike. Other than it being a bit hot to hike with a warm sweaty baby pressed up against my back, it was really comfortable for me, too.
Hannah and Hazel eventually waded in to this small pond. It had newts!
Hannah really wanted to carry Conan, so for the last leg of the hike we let her pack him in the Ergo. They both thought it was really fun.