Posts Tagged ‘Ivesia’
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 »
A Rainbow of Colors at Cone Peak and Iron Mountain
The Cone Peak meadows at peak bloom. What else can you say but “Wow!”?
The ivesia (Ivesia gordonii) was in perfect bloom on the side ridge of Cone Peak. It’s also on the top of the peak, but there are no records of it anywhere else on the west side of the Cascades.
Sabine Dutoit had a hankering to go to Cone Peak and Iron Mountain, so last Thursday, June 13, Sheila Klest and I joined her for an excellent day out in the Cascades. It was a gorgeous day, and the flowers were outstanding. We walked the 6.6-mile loop trail up through the Cone Peak meadows, over to Iron Mountain (passing just a few last patches of snow on the north side), and up to the Iron Mountain summit before returning to the road. It was great to be out with good friends, enjoying the flowers and views, and not working too hard. And there weren’t the usual crowds at Iron Mountain—undoubtedly the most popular wildflower site in the Western Cascades. Although that’s much longer than I usually hike, it seemed so relaxing not studying, surveying, or collecting seeds, and not bushwhacking. I’ll have to try that more often! It was hard to choose just a few photos to post. You’ll just have to imagine the rest—or go yourself! Read the rest of this entry »
Top of Cone Peak Starting to Bloom
Western springbeauty blooms as the snow melts.
Beautiful shooting star (Dodecatheon pulchellum)
I thought you might be interested in what Sabine Dutoit and I found at Cone Peak yesterday. Not surprisingly, things are way behind. There’s quite a bit more snow than when I was there on either 6/3/06 and 5/24/04. I’d say it’s 4 weeks or more behind the last few years. Almost everywhere I’ve been able to get to so far is 3–4 weeks behind. There was a lot of snow right at the beginning of the trail, but we could see the top was open, so we figured we’d give it a try. The trail cleared off shortly, but then, before the series of switchbacks, we ran into lots of snow again and lost the trail. We just headed for the top across the snow and eventually got right up to the main meadow and the trail, which were half open and covered with Western springbeauty (Claytonia lanceolata). Then we crossed a bit more snow right at the base of the trail and were all clear from then on.