Natural History Wanderings

Washington Trails Association has a number of new hike reports that mention wildflower bloom. Here are some brief wildflower excerpts that might give a rough idea of what is happening on the trails.

Annette Lake — Jun 17, 2013 — Snoqualmie Pass — Snoqualmie Pass
Wildflowers blooming along the trail, including -to my delight- glacier lillies.

Pratt Lake Basin, Lower Tuscohatchie Lake — Jun 16, 2013 —Snoqualmie Pass — North Bend Area
A moderate display of flowers greeted me along the Pratt Lake trail. Vanilla Leaf, plus some trillium, and yellow violets. I did find a blooming wild ginger on the way back.

Northwest Timber Trail — Jun 16, 2013 — Issaquah Alps — Tiger Mountain
Loved this trail for the foxglove blooming!

Heather Lake — Jun 16, 2013 — North Cascades — Mountain Loop Highway
Flowers: skunk cabbage, trillium, salmonberry, marsh marigold and blue and yellow violets.

Koppen Mountain, Deroux Spur, Boulder-De Roux / Gallagher Head Lake — Jun 16, 2013 — Snoqualmie Pass — Salmon La Sac/Teanaway
lots of flowers we don’t know the names.

Mount Townsend — Jun 16, 2013 — Olympics — East
The rhodies are just starting to bloom on the trail

Baker Lake–Maple Grove — Jun 16, 2013 — North Cascades
Wildflowers were still blooming (mostly dogwood and bleeding hearts) and lots of ripe salmon berries

Upper Dungeness River — Jun 15, 2013 — Olympics — East
Along with blooming rhododendrons, there are some late trillium, yellow violets, columbines, bunchberries in full bloom.

Tubal Cain — Jun 15, 2013 — Olympics — East
I stopped to enjoy the first couple miles of the Tubal Cain Trail’s “Rhododendron Alley” since it was in full bloom. ..and Wow!

Black Canyon — Jun 15, 2013 — Eastern Washington — Yakima
Various colors of buckwheat, Western blue flax, 3 varieties of penstemon, brodiaea, large-flowered collomia, yarrow, a few paintbrush, larkspur and bitterroot were some of the flowers seen. Lazuli buntings, towhees, phoebes, a kestrel and a pair of nesting wrens were seen. There were many species of butterflies.

Dirtyface Lookout and Peak — Jun 15, 2013 — Central Cascades — Stevens Pass – East
The wildflowers are fabulous,

Wolf Creek, Hurricane Hill — Jun 15, 2013 — Olympics — North
But it is completely worth it for the wildflowers in the meadows and unhindered views of the snow-peaked Oympics. Also great mushroom sighting and birding opportunities.

Umtanum Creek Canyon — Jun 14, 2013 — Eastern Washington — Yakima
the many variety of birds, flowers, and butterflies slowed our pace so that we had to turn around 700 feet short of the ridge. We saw lazuli buntings, yellow-breasted chats, Cassin’s finch, gold finch, phoebes, and towhees. Hyssop, yarrow, large-flowered collomia, linear leaf daisies, and a beautiful white flowering shrub we haven’t identified yet were some of the flowers seen

Stafford Creek — Jun 14, 2013 — Snoqualmie Pass — Salmon La Sac/Teanaway
Lots of wildflowers and more to come. Saw trillium, columbine, calypso orchid, lupine, white phlox, paint brush, vanilla leaf, spring beauty, miner’s lettuce, and the special plants that can survive the greenish serpentine soils like: rare grass poa curtifolia, holly fern, reddish-purple douglasia nivalis dentate.

Thorp Mountain — Jun 14, 2013 — Snoqualmie Pass — Salmon La Sac/Teanaway
Flowers are busting right through the snow in places, and out of the running snowmelt in others. We saw glacier lilies, prairie stars, ball-headed something-or-others, phlox, little yellow jobbies, and gardens of anemone (I think).

 

To see more detailed reports for the above, links to photos and videos  and more hike reports go to: Trip Reports — Washington Trails Association.