Mendo Bionerding

Small, low-lying manzanita, small leaves.

Is there a way to distinguish macrophyllum from occidentale in a photo like this?

Growing next to red huckleberry, both emerging from a tree stump. We saw tons of huckleberry growing out of tree stumps. Presumably from bird poop?

2 needles, moderately closed cone, bark gray with large jagged chunks.

Ivan's original call was some kind of gentian, and I think he was right. Not sure one can get so species from a post-flowering state like this though.

First time seeing reindeer lichen. It was everywhere up in the pygmy forest, practically forming a carpet in some areas! And apparently there's only one species in the area. Score.

Never seen this stuff before. Weird.

One of many weird introduced carnivorous plants at this bog.

Found this massive carabid under a log at Van Damme.

Tammy found this one, and I found another in the same stream. As Ivan pointed out, looks a lot like E. e. picta.

Large, red bolete growing under conifers (Bishop pine, Doug fir, maybe some hemlock around). Very slow and mild staining reaction.

Growing on conifer.

Ivan found this amazing Northwestern Salamander under a log while we were trying (and failing) to find adult Giant Salamanders. Another new-to-me herp.