You have to look closely to find these small flowers blooming on the forest floor! The flowers grow on one side of the stem, giving them their common name. The plant is only 4 or 5 inches tall. They are in the Wintergreen Family. I found these blooming on the Kenai Peninsula.
This Skeleton Forest can be seen along Highway 1 near Portage. The dead trees have stood here since the 1964 Good Friday 9.2 magnitude earthquake. The land near the Turnagain Arm sunk causing salt water to inundate the forest. Because of the cold weather, decomposition of the trees has been very slow.
We later learned that the Skyline Trail is one of the steepest trails on the Kenai Peninsula with an elevation gain of 2000 feet in 3/4 mile! Thank goodness it wasn't wet! The bluish-green color in the upper right corner is a small lake. The purple flowers are Wild Geraniums. We made sure to make a lot of noise by talking or whistling to let our presence be known to any moose or bears that might be nearby.
