Fireweed is as common as it is beautiful along the highways of western Canada and Alaska. It’s just one of dozens of wildflowers travelers can expect to encounter. Young fireweed leaves are a tasty addition to salads, and their petals can be used to make a beautifully colored ice cream.
Left: Prickly rose looks a lot like its domestic counterparts. This bud is within a day or two of bursting open. Right: I don’t know if one can properly talk about wildflowers growing in beds, but where we found a few chiming bells, there always seemed to be others peeking out from the shade where the soil was damp and the sunlight sparse.
Appropriately named bog candle lights up the shaded places where it grows.
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Northern Yarrow is common throughout the region. Dwarf dogwood hugs the forest floor.
Fireweed leans toward the sun above a yellow sea of monkey flower.
Indian paintbrush (red) and lupine (blue) are common throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Orange hawkweed is sometimes mistaken for Indian paintbrush, but it’s an invasive species – albeit a pretty one. Wildflowers seem to be everywhere in western Canada. This black bear is framed in fireweed stalks as he takes a break from browsing a patch of sweet clover. A road trip up the West Coast through British Columbia, into Yukon Territory and on to Alaska had long been on our lifetime things-to-do list. This is one of the world’s great drives.
CutterLight 
Ah…spring has sprung. Thanks for the inspiring pictures with information following, and the bear just tops it off!
We never get tired of seeing the bears! Thanks for the nice comments.
thank you for stopping by my blog ~
beautiful flowers and, as a former resident of b.c., i’m delighted to see mister bear ~ and am amazed at the bee photo! just wonderful.
wait, that’s a hummingbird! wow i love it
Thanks for stopping by! And you’re first take was right – it’s a bumble bee.
Beautiful photos and great commentary! I envy you living your dreams! Good for you. I have been to Alaska. Yes it is magnificent. I don’t know that I could spend the winter without suffering from SAD!
Thanks for reading my blog as well.
We wondered about the dark winters, too, but they haven’t been a problem. We really enjoy the quiet evenings to bake, cook, read and write. Thanks for visiting!
Never know where you might find a bear among the flowers, do you. LOL. He looked like he was posed and ready to have his photo snapped. Wonderful photos.
Or like he just woke up!
Beautiful photos! I especially love the Bear photo…what beautiful creatures they are!
I’ve driven the ALCAN coming back to TN in November so no flowers for me. Makes your pics that much more special to me. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Sharon. What part of Tennessee?
The prettiest part of the state, the Nashville area!
I’d like to visit Fairbanks again sometime. Maybe when I retire. I hope you enjoy it there. The people are great!
We LOVE Alaska. Thanks for stopping by.
Beautiful photos. I love the bog candles. I have never encountered any. Spring certainly has sprung along the highway to Alaska – it was a fabulous trip last May long weekend. Lots of bears and bison. Definately worth the trip.
The bog candles are among our favorites, too. We had no idea there would be so many different kinds of flowers – the ones on this post are just a small fraction.
Meadows of flowers, and baby bears rolling in clover pastures? I always wondered what it’d look like in the Springtime but never dreamed it would be this fecund. Your photos are a revelation. Thanks for taking me along with you on this joyful ride!
Thanks for stopping by! We’ve been fortunate enough to make this drive three times and have been left in awe each time.
Three times? Fortunate indeed.
Teddy!
Nice pics.
У меня есть похожий пост, мы живем по соседству с Аляской и природа у нас похожа
https://urbietorbi9.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/%D1%86%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%8B-%D0%B8-%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%8B-%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0/