Posts Tagged ‘Delphinium’
A Very Early Spring at Loletta Peak
Looking southeast from the summit of “Loletta Peak,” there’s little evidence of fire. The sharp point of Mt. Thielsen can be seen 25 miles away. Nearby on the right side of the photo is north end of the Balm Mountain rdge. Spreading phlox is abundant all over the summit area.
Several plants of cliff paintbrush (Castilleja rupicola) grow in the gravel along the upper part of Coal Creek Road. These are the only ones not out of reach on cliffs, so it’s a good opportunity to photograph them safely.
After seeing a fresh Siskiyou fritillary (Fritillaria glauca) at Bristow Prairie;(see Lack of Snowpack at Bristow Prairie Leads to Very Early Spring), I realized this would be a good year to look at the much bigger population at “Loletta Peak.” Like Bristow Prairie, my access to Loletta Lakes and the nearby ridge I’ve dubbed “Loletta Peak” is on the north side of the Calapooyas where the snow lasts longer. One of the small silver linings of having no snow pack is that the road is already open when the very early flowering fritillaries come into bloom. After the only other snowpackless winter I’ve experienced in Oregon, I made the same trip on May 29, 2015 (see Another Exciting Day in the Calapooyas).
On May 20th, my husband, Jim, and I headed up Coal Creek Road all the way to the primitive campsite at the east end of the plateau that Loletta Lakes sit in. It is a short but steep climb up through the forest on the south side of the road to get up to the open scree of the ridge. Even though it was well before the road is usually even open, there was plenty in bloom on the ridge. I was disappointed that the fritillary flowers I spotted were already spent, but I hoped that once we reached the top of the 5900′ peak (only another 300′ higher), there might be some left. Thankfully, I found several fresh flowers on the gentle slopes of the summit though each only had a single flower.
Butterfly Bonanza Along Deer Creek Road
We first drove up the road as far as Fritz Creek. We stopped there to see the beautiful creek and were surprised to see lots of California tortoiseshells on the road. I’ve been here many times and never seen so many. I counted around 80 in this photo alone, and there were many more flying around.
On April 6th, Kate Shapiro and I spent a delightful and relaxing day strolling down Deer Creek Road to see the early flowers. We were accompanied by hundreds of California tortoiseshells. There were also a few echo azures and Julia’s orangetips. We had planned to start with a look at the cliffs along Cougar Reservoir, but, for anyone heading out that way, the road is closed for the month of April due to construction. Here are some highlights from our day.
Kate was very popular with the tortoiseshells. For the entire mile-long walk along the road, she was accompanied by a number of hitchhikers.
I’ll admit to being envious of all the attention Kate was getting from the tortoiseshells. I’d gotten into poison oak over the weekend, so my hat was newly washed, making it far less desirable than Kate’s, which apparently was still imbued with tasty sweat. But some butterflies landed on me from time to time, including when I was trying to look at this spiny chinquapin (Chrysolepis chrysophylla) fruit.
Long-awaited Return to Abbott Butte
You can see Mount McLoughlin to the southeast from the summit meadow.
This cute bee is nectaring on tall sneezeweed (Helenium bigelovii), a southwestern Oregon species I’ve only seen in the Cascades near the Abbott Butte trailhead and at nearby Donegan Meadows.
In late June, I received an e-mail from Adam Schneider, another avid wildflower photographer, saying he was heading down to the Rogue-Umpqua Divide and did I have any suggestions for where to go. This is one of my favorite areas of the Cascades, and I used to try to get down there every year. But then I got busier with work, and every time I thought about going there was a heat wave or thunderstorms in the forecast or a nearby fire or smoke. Somehow a decade passed without a visit! Then when my old van became too untrustworthy to drive into the mountains, we got an electric vehicle. I’d been keeping an eye on charging stations, but as of summer of 2024, there still weren’t any on the east side of the Cascades that I could use to make the long trip. Adam’s e-mail prompted me to take another look, and I was thrilled to see a fast-charging station had been installed in Chemult last fall! Read the rest of this entry »
Scouting Trip to Warner and Groundhog Mountains
This was what I was hoping to see! The lower bank on Road 452 was awash with purple coyote mint and yellow sulphur buckwheat and Oregon sunshine. A perfect complementary color scheme.
There’s one particular corner on the road between Moon Point and Warner Mountain that has a beautiful population of woodland phlox (Phlox adsurgens) growing on the roadbank.
Earlier in the year, I agreed to lead a botanizing trip for the Emerald Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon sometime in the summer. I try to do one a year, but it doesn’t always happen—like last year when there were so many fires. I decided it was about time to bring people back to Groundhog Mountain. I hadn’t taken NPSO folks up there since 2008, when our chapter hosted the annual meeting. Not only is it one of my favorite botanizing (and butterfly watching) spots, it is ideal for a field trip because there are so many possible places to check out, and there will always be something blooming well. There are no trails, but there is much to see right by the road, so everyone can gather together when we find something special. The date chosen was July 12th because it was during a gap in planned activities for the group. So on July 3rd, I headed up by myself to try and figure out where I should take everyone. Having already seen how bad the section of Road 2309 was between Road 2120 and Waterdog Lake (see Another Try at Groundhog Mountain), I decided the long way around from Road 2129 past the Warner Mountain Lookout would be the easiest and safest for a caravan of vehicles. Read the rest of this entry »
Long-awaited Return to McCord Creek Falls
Thimbleberries blooming in front of McCord Creek Falls
White shootingstar was in perfect bloom in the damp areas of the cliff.
My first visit to McCord Creek Falls was on a trip led by Russ Jolley, the author of the classic field guide, Wildflowers of the Columbia Gorge. It was way back in 1997, on a field trip organized by the now-defunct Emerald Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society. I immediately fell in love with the place because part of the trail is cut into one of those amazing vertical cliffs that grace the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge. While I have a lot of favorites, plants that have adapted to survive the brutal conditions of life in rock crevices have to be my favorite favorites. You have to respect anything that tough. And the contrast of the colorfully flowered and delicate-looking plants with the hard and craggy rocks appeals to the artist in me. Over the next 13 years, I made the long trip north 10 more times. But somehow it just dropped off my radar. I guess I got too busy to drive all the way up there because my last trip there was in 2010 (see Late Bloom at McCord Creek Falls). Read the rest of this entry »
Peak Flowers at Groundhog Mountain
The road banks along 2309 are about 1000′ lower than the highest section of the road, so the flowering season was much farther along. Lots of vibrant Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum) and harsh paintbrush (Castilleja hispida) grew among the softer colored annuals, rosy plectritis (Plectritis congesta) and bluefield gilia (Gilia capitata).
The reflexed petals of tall mountain shooting star are designed for bumblebees, and the bees are happy in any wetland filled with these beauties.
After we had such a great time at Groundhog Mountain and Logger Butte two years ago (see Wonderful Day at Groundhog Mountain and Logger Butte), NPSO buddies Dave Predeek and Alan Butler were as anxious as I was to get back up there this year. We all had the day free on June 30th, so Alan drove us up there for another excellent day of botanizing. As on the previous trip together, we headed up there from the north so we could pass by the floriferous roadcuts of Road 2309. They were still colorful, so we made multiple stops along the road. There was so much to see that Dave and I walked along the road while Alan moved the truck up the road a bit at a time. What a luxury to have someone else drive so I can focus on botanizing, taking photographs, and chasing butterflies! Read the rest of this entry »
Glorious Day at the Summit of Cone Peak
The steepest part of the 700′ climb up to the summit from the trail is when you’re almost at the top. But you want to go slowly to look at all the flowers anyway.
Sheila and I were intrigued by this dead tree. Pileated woodpeckers commonly make rectangular-shaped holes in dead trees, and there were some higher up, but I’ve never seen them carve up a tree so thoroughly. We thought it looked like a totem pole. You can see the huge pile of wood chips at the base. There was a smaller one on the other side of the trail.
Sheila Klest and I had planned to go to Cone Peak the previous week, but I had to cancel at the last moment after barely sleeping the night before. Even if I could have handled the long drive and hike, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it on two hours of sleep. It’s tough finding a time when Sheila can get away from her native plant nursery, Trillium Gardens, so I was relieved she was able to reschedule to go up there with me on Thursday, June 13. Coincidentally, that the was the exact date and day of our previous trip (see A Rainbow of Colors at Cone Peak and Iron Mountain), but we hadn’t made it to the summit that time, and the bloom season was a little farther ahead of this year.
I had wanted to get up there as early as possible to see the first flowers while there were still a few snow banks left. My early-season trip with Sabine Dutoit back in 2008 (see Top of Cone Peak Starting to Bloom) is still one of my favorite experiences. While it was later in June, that was an above-average snow year, so we walked over snow drifts with snowmelt species blooming in the newly bare spots to get to the top of Cone Peak where the bloom was gorgeous. What makes Cone Peak such a great place to see very early flowers is that you can hike from a paved road that is cleared of snow in June. Most of my other high-elevation spots require going up long gravel roads, so the earliest plants are often done before the roads are clear of snow and downed trees. Read the rest of this entry »
Beetles and Botany at Bearbones
Angela, Leela, Sol, and Lauren exploring the north side of Bearbones Mountain a little below the summit. We were surprised to see rubber rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) growing in the cooler conditions of the north-facing slope. More common to the south and east, it usually grows in hotter, drier sites. The purple tinge on the slope was a large sweep of large-flowered blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia grandiflora).
Stunning cliff penstemon lights up the rocky ridge. The two rocky slopes in the nearest ridge are Spring Butte. The small prominence behind and to the left is “Mosaic Rock” where I went in May (see Long-awaited Return to Mosaic Rock). The large ridge beyond that is Staley Ridge.
Bearbones Mountain is a former lookout site with a 360° view, and it is a really interesting area botanically, but the trail is little known, rarely used, and hard to find now that the hiker symbol post is gone. I’ve been trying to bring people up there for years to see its hidden treasures. On June 9th, I introduced it to four more botanically minded folks, two of whom work for the Middle Fork district of the Willamette National Forest where it is located but hadn’t been there yet. The flowers were even better than when I’d been there a couple of weeks before (see First Trip of the Year to Bearbones Mountain). The cliff penstemon (Penstemon rupicola) was outstanding, and there were plenty of other beautiful wildflowers to keep everyone satisfied. We also saw interesting insects although I was again disappointed in the relative lack of butterflies. Everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather and great view. It’s a good place to get oriented when you’re in the southeastern part of Lane County. Hopefully my younger friends will bring other flower lovers up here in the future. Read the rest of this entry »
Mistmaiden Meadow Pretty as a Picture
The rosy plectritis (Plectritis congesta) was kicking in but not quite at peak bloom yet. There was also lots of slender cryptantha (Cryptantha affinis) and coastal manroot (Marah oreganus). The great camas (Camassia leichtlinii) had just barely started.
Shooting stars have downward-pointing flowers with reflexed petals in order to accommodate buzz pollination by bumblebees. There were lots of bumblebees taking advantage of the abundance of beautiful shooting star (Dodecatheon pulchellum) throughout the meadow. I was disappointed by the relative lack of butterflies but happy to see some pollinators.
On June 7, I took my husband, Jim, to see “Mistmaiden Meadow” on the west edge of Sourgrass Mountain. Although he’s not particularly interested in plants, we both feel safer if he’s familiar with all the places I visit regularly, in case he ever does have to come to my rescue. There are nice rocks and a view, and it was a lovely day to get out. If he’d stayed home, he would have spent the day doing chores like wood-splitting, so at least it was a nice change of pace.
The slope was still quite moist and lush with lots of colorful flowers. We’d missed the very earliest bloom, but there was still lots of the sweet Thompson’s mistmaiden (Romanzoffia thompsonii) that I named the site after. The very similar Nuttall’s saxifrage (Cascadia nuttallii) was just starting but will soon take over the seepy slopes. It is worth visiting this lovely and quiet spot multiple times during the flowering season. I was able to confirm my mystery cherry from my last trip last year (see Late Season at Mistmaiden Meadow) as choke cherry (Prunus virginiana) and added four other new species to my growing plant list for the site, so it felt successful as well as relaxing. And seeing a bear run across the road in front of us on our way home was like the cherry on top of a sundae—and the most exciting part of the day for Jim! Here are some pretty pictures of our very pleasant day. Read the rest of this entry »
First Trip of the Year to Bearbones Mountain
I was able to get close to some beautiful cliff paintbrush (Castilleja rupicola) on my way up the north side of the summit. Most of the other plants I saw were out of reach.
I recently heard from Chad Sageser that he had cleared the roads (2127 and 5850) to Bearbones Mountain of fallen trees. What a hero! With all the interesting early plants on this old lookout site, I decided to head up there as soon as possible. On May 31, I drove up there by myself. I’d missed the earliest flowers—only a couple of glacier lilies (Erythronium grandiflorum) were still blooming—but the rest of the flowers were beautiful, and there was more spring phacelia (Phacelia verna) than I’d ever seen before. I was a bit tired, so I didn’t make it as far down the side ridge as I usually go. I also wanted to save a little energy for a quick but steep trip up to the top of Big Pine Opening (the big open slope along Road 21 at the intersection of Rd 2135) at the end of the day. This is the lowest site of purple milkweed (Asclepias cordifolia) we know of in the Middle Fork district, so I wanted to see how far along the bloom was. Here are some highlights.
Looking to the northeast from the summit, you can see the snowy Three Sisters in the distance. You can also see the extensive damage of the 2022 Cedar Creek Fire, which burned from Waldo Lake all the way to west of Blair Lake. The nearby ridge I named Bearscat Ridge, but I haven’t been back up there since 2007.