Posts Tagged ‘Hemieva’
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.