Black Spruce / Dwarf shrub

   Near the chalet, a tangle of understory shrubs such as Mountain Alder, Sheep Laurel, Labrador Tea, and Blueberry crowd towering black spruce. Fireweed and horsetails are found among the trail disturbance. As the Rabbit Run trail rises, spruce and shrubs thin out and the moss / lichen layer becomes more obvious, until...

Enter the Emerald Park...

Black Spruce / Feathermoss

   Moss forms a plush carpet around well-spaced mature Black Spruce. It disguises boulders and fallen trees and upholsters old stumps where squirrels chatter at intruders while dining on spruce cones snipped from upper branches. Mossed-over logs are layered with foliose lichens and festooned with Creeping Snowberry and Partridgeberries. Where sufficient light diffuses through the high canopy, Labrador Tea and alders grow. Along the trail disturbances can be found Crackerberries, horsetails, and club mosses. Northern Comandra is not common, but it can easily be spotted when its leaves turn wine-colored in early fall. As the trail continues to rise, then level out, understory shrubs, particularly alders, then Labrador Tea, become denser. Feathermosses give way to sphagnum....

Black Spruce / Bog

   Black Spruce growing sparsely from a thick spongy layer of sphagnum mosses appear to be stunted compared to the mature 80 year old trees encountered on lower slopes. These tress are actually considerably younger. (Hmm... some detective work is required here!) Shrubs including Labrador Tea, Leatherleaf, Bog Laurel, and Sheep Laurel share this damp space with the scrawny trees. Berries - Marshberries, Crowberries, Bakeapples, Blueberries - thrive in abundance. There are some clubmosses along the trail. As the trail rises again, lichens begin to outnumber the mosses...

Black Spruce / Lichen

   In sharp contrast to the verdant spruce / feathermoss area on the lower trail, this is a fragile, brittle garden. Pale caribou mosses and other lichens thrive on this dry, nutrient-poor site that most plants except spruce find inhospitable. Labrador Tea and Blueberry bushes make up the sparse shrub layer.

    The Rabbit Run continues through more Black Spruce / dwarf shrubs and then back into feathermosses. There is increasing diversity of plants. Look now for willows, Mountain Ash, and Clintonia along the trail. Mature birch combines with Black Spruce, the trail rises again and you suddenly step into "The Garden"...

Mixed Spruce / Birch

   Mosses yield to a profusion of Starflowers, Crackerberries, Corn Lilies, Canada Mayflower, violets, Twinflowers, Twisted Stalk, Goldthread, Dewberries, Partridgeberries, Goldenrod, club mosses, and ferns. Shrubs include Chuckley Pear, Squashberry, alders, willows, and Skunk Currants. Mature spruce and birch tower above vigorous Mountain Ash and young Balsam Fir. This site is well worth visiting for the succession of wildflowers in bloom during the late spring and early summer.

The trail descends into a small ravine...

Hardwood Thicket

   Songbirds seem to love this area of dense "brush" made up of Pin Cherry, alders, and Mountain Ash. Raspberries, Squashberries, and Skunk Currants grow in abundance along the trail. Look for Dewberries and violets in the damp approaches to the ramp.

    The trail rises steeply through another birch / spruce garden. Massive birch here are ancient and, nearing the end of their life spans, are showing signs of decay, a fact fully exploited by industrious woodpeckers probing for insects. Two species of woodpeckers, Hairy and Black-Backed, have been frequently observed at work. Moss and fungus covered decomposing logs in the woods are a reminder of how nature recycles.

    Continue climbing, into spruce / feathermoss again, past McLean's Lake and Scott's Run intersections. From here it's all downhill along the back of the Rabbit Run to the chalet.

Back of Rabbit Run

   From Scott's Run intersection, the Rabbit Run gradually descends for about a kilometer back to the chalet. Forest sites are similar to, and probably a continuation of, the spruce / feather moss, spruce / bog and spruce / dwarf shrubs areas encountered on the uphill half of the trail. Some new plants will be discovered. Look for the Three-Leaved False Solomon's Seal, and the 'mystery plant' growing the dampish parts of the path. There is a miniature forest of horse tails and another of Northern Comandra growing beside the trail. In the boggy section is one of our few stands of Larch.

Home | Interpretation Project | Trails | Contact Us | Photo Gallery | Botanical Survery | Wildlife | Plant List | Forest Fire Ecology | Geology | The Loop | Education