A Rare Wildflower

The Golden Paintbrush, Castilleja levisecta, is one of the rarer wildflowers in Washington.  It grows along the coast and its habitat has been systematically destroyed by development.  There are several places, however, where it can still be found and these sites are carefully monitored and protected.  The site where these photos was taken is protected from mowers and the number of plants carefully monitored and flagged each year.

Chiwaukum Creek

On our way to eastern Washington we hiked (dwadled is more accurate) along part of the Chiwaukum Creek trail, which if followed far enough takes one into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.  We did not go nearly that far, but far enough to see the damage caused by the 2014 wildfires.  The Chiwaukum Complex fire burned nearly 14,000 acres in the area between mid-July and the end of August.  The area we hiked was already recovering and the wildflowers were in abundance.  We not only found the Western Fairy Slippers we were looking for but also found the first Lewisias of the season.  Know as Mountain Roses, Lewisia tweedyi grows only in the Wenatchee area of the Central Cascades.  There had been rain the night before so everything was bejeweled with water drops and we took a lot of pictures of those as well as of the wildflowers.

the trail and the creek

burned trees from the 2014 fires

raindrops

Spring Orange Peel Fungus

fungus on wild roses

Sword Fern

Arrowleaf Balsamroot

Upland Larkspur

Cliff Painbrush

Ballhead Waterleaf

Stony-ground Lupine

Mountain Rose (Lewisia tweedyi)

Naked Broomrape

Slender Woodland Star

 Large False Solomon's Seal

 Martindale's Desert Parsley

 Hooker's Fairy Bells

conifer

Martin Creek

(along the Old Cascade Highway)

 the Enchantments