Calista Harris, Naturalist & Pioneer, at Lakes of the Clouds, July 1984

Cal Harris, photographed at Lakes of the Clouds in July 1984, was a brilliant naturalist and botanist who lived and worked in the White Mountains for many, many years and knew them about as well as anyone can. I loved working with Cal because of the depth of her knowledge and her wonderful sense of humor. She was an amazing person. Her partner/husband, Stuart (Slim) Harris, was also an amazing botanist, naturalist and artist who worked in the White Mountains for years and together they wrote articles and helped publish books like the AMC's Mountain Flowers of New England that had its debut in 1964. Cal was instrumental in creating the project to steward the Dwarf Cinquefoil population (see above) on Mt. Washington and put in lots of hours to help make the area near the base of Mt. Monroe and close to the Crawford Path and Lakes of the Clouds Hut a restricted area to protect the nearby Dwarf Cinquefoil population. When I meet the younger naturalists like those from the 2008 season, Ana Roy (above), Benny Taylor, Andy Reily (see article below), Alex May, Kate Keefe, and all the others I think of Cal because it's her footsteps they/we are following and you couldn't ask for better company.