Serendipity and Orchids

Some Saprophytic Plants

2012-02-06T06:24:00.000-08:00

For lack of anything else to publish, I thought I would post some pictures of the different saprophytic plants we've encountered in our rambles. Actually, these are not considered saprophytic anymore and even the term is obsolete. They are instead now referred to as mycotrophic.

The older term, "saprophytic," meant that these plants fed off decaying plant material in the soil. While that is not entirely untrue, the fact is that they get their nutrients through a symbiotic (mutual) relationship with a soil fungus named mycrorrhiza and not directly from the soil.

In ordinary terms, these plants are usually leafless and without chlorophyll. In our area they include a number of orchids, the Coralroots, of which Washington has five, as well as various other odd and unusual plants, the Vancouver Groundcones, Pinedrops and Candysticks.

The Coralroots are a group of orchids usually found in heavily forested and rather shady and dry areas. Several of them have quite insignificant flowers, but some of them are very beautiful. A couple are quite rare but some are very common and can easily be found.

Ozette and Spotted Coralroots

Western Coralroot

Striped Coralroot

Early Coralroot

The only other mycotrophic orchid in the state of Washington is the most beautiful of them all, the Phantom Orchid, Cephalanthera austiniae, named for its bone white color and for the fact that it appears phantom-like on dark forest floors where nothing else seems to be growing.

Other mycotrophs, though not orchids, have a bizarre beauty of their own. Most, like the Indian Pipes and Vancouver Groundcones, are smaller plants, but some like the pine drops can grow to several feet. Finding them is always an unexpected delight.

Indian Pipes

Vancouver Groundcones

Pinesap

Candystick

Pinedrops

Nooksack Falls and Mount Baker Highway

2012-01-24T12:55:00.000-08:00

My youngest brother was in the area for business the week of January 15-21 and we managed to get out for an afternoon, even though the weather was terrible. That was the week that the Pacific Northwest was nearly brought to a standstill by snow, ice, winds, and cold. By Saturday the weather had moderated a little and we went to Nooksack Falls where we did some photography.

The road to the falls was closed and so we had to walk to the falls, but it is short walk and at some point the road had been plowed, and the walk was not an inconvenience. The weather, however, turned to wet snow, and that was an inconvenience with all our camera equipment - we had to keep our cameras under our coats when we weren't using them and we ourselves got soaked.

Nooksack Falls are on the North Fork of the Nooksack River and drop 175 feet into a very narrow cleft in the rocks making it very difficult to photograph the falls. In fact, the bottom of the falls is barely visible if one stays on the safe side of the fence that surrounds the viewing area, as one ought to do, since the area around the falls is quite dangerous and eight or nine people have died there.

We took pictures not only of the falls but also of the river above the falls and took both time exposures with a tripod as well as hand-held and quicker shots. Photography was extremely difficult both because the light was fading and because of the strong contrast between the snow and the river and surrounding forests. Most of my pictures had to be processed a bit to make them worthwhile.

We also made several other stops, but there was little to photograph besides the mossy forests which were rather eerie in the mist and low light. We did ask on couple who had been snowshoeing in the Hannegan Pass area if we could take their picture as they ate their picnic lunch in rather wintry conditions. They were more than happy to let us snap away and joked about the pictures we took.

First Snow

2012-01-20T07:04:00.000-08:00

This week we had our first snow of the year and what a week it has been. Schools were closed all week and everyone pretty much stayed home unless they had to be out. We probably didn't have more than a foot of snow in all, but we are not very well equipped here to deal with it - roads don't get plowed for days and the plowing, when it is finally done, is poorly done. We also had high winds Wednesday which made for white-out conditions in some areas and for drifting, and now freezing rain.

Tuesday, my wife and Edward and I got out with our cameras and took a walk to see the snow and get what photos we could. The day was still and the branches, even the smallest twigs, were carrying their load of snow. We walked through the little park that follows Fishtrap Creek near our home and then walked on through the neighborhood. Edward has posted some of his pictures on Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/8686966@N02/, but these are some of those my wife and I took.

Bellingham Walk

2012-01-12T16:03:00.000-08:00

Some of our children along with a little granddaughter were here for two weeks over the holidays. The weather for the most part was dreadful, rainy and cold and dreary, but we did manage to get out twice for a walk in the Bellingham area, once to a little park near the harbor, Maritime Heritage Park, and once to a park on the bay between Bellingham and Fairhaven, Boulevard Park. We made various other stops as well for pictures of the local architecture and so on. Our daughter and son-in-law are both avid photographers as well, so at times we had four cameras going.

This first set was taken in Maritime Heritage Park.

These near the park.

These at a nearby construction site.

This on a dead end road near the harbor.

And these in Boulevard Park.

And of course we finished off with coffee - we like our coffee here in the northwest.

Frosty Mornings

2012-01-06T19:14:00.000-08:00

Several mornings recently my wife and I have gone for a walk in the morning after a hard frost and have taken our cameras along in order to get pictures of the frost on the leaves, berries, flowers, fences - on every exposed surface. We were especially intrigued by the way the frost outlined the fallen leaves and emphasized the veins in the leaves. These are some of our pictures.

Autumn Sunset

2011-12-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

On one of our afternoon walks my wife and I were privileged to see a sunset so spectacular, that I do not think I have ever seen one as beautiful. It had been raining and I was reluctant to go out, but the weather was clearing and this sunset certainly was one I would not have missed for anything.

Autumn Afternoon Ambles

2011-12-22T18:42:00.000-08:00

Often, if the weather is decent, my wife and I go for a walk late in the afternoon. We almost always take our cameras along and take pictures of anything that catches our fancy. These walks were especially nice with the autumn colors still on the trees, the beautiful sunsets and the flowers still blooming. Now, of course, the colors are gone as are the flowers.

Skyline Divide

2011-12-17T13:25:00.000-08:00

We had both had a very busy week and so on Friday, September 24th, my wife and I left to do some hiking as soon as she finished with school. We followed the Mount Baker Highway to the town of Glacier and just outside the town took a forest service road known as Dead Horse Road another twelve miles to the trailhead for Skyline Divide in the Mount Baker Wilderness.

Photography was quite difficult. On the trail it was already quite dark with the sun low in the west and even in the meadows the bright light and long shadows made it difficult to get good exposures. Lower down there were not a lot of wildflowers but many different fungi.

We hiked the two miles to the top of the divide, taking our time and all the pictures we wanted, and were at the top in just over two hours. We climbed steadily along the trail gaining about 1500 feet in elevation before we reached the ridgetop. Coming down took only a little over 30 minutes and we were at our car just as the sun went down.

The wildflowers were incredible. We had a very late spring, so the meadows near the top of the ridge were in their full glory, The Lupines, Western Bistort, Mountain Heliotrope and Arnica were everywhere, but the trail was very quiet since it was too late in the year to hear any birds singing and there were only a few other hikers, though there were a number of cars at the trailhead.

This was a trail we had never been on before and we found to our surprise that it had some of the best views of Mount Baker that we have ever seen, and in the setting sun the views were especially spectacular. We did not stay long at the top, however, since the bugs, especially the mosquitoes, were so thick it was hard to get pictures without them flying in front of the lens.

Note: as always, a number of these pictures are my wife's.

Ross Lake

2011-12-14T16:59:00.000-08:00

Diablo Lake from the Highway 20 Bridge at Colonial Creek

At the end of August we had our grandson staying with us and decided to take him and a friend on a short back-packing excursion and chose Greenpoint on Ross Lake in the North Cascades as our destination. We chose Greenpoint for several reasons.

1) The hike to Greenpoint is only a couple of miles with very little altitude gain or loss. This turned out to be a good decision since both boys were soon tired of the hiking, even though they had only their sleeping bags to carry in backpacks.

2) The campground at Greenpoint has picnic tables and fire pits since it is also used by boaters. That also turned out to be a good decision since the boys had as much fun by the fire, roasting things and snacking and listening to stories, as they did exploring the area.

We left early in the morning and were on the trail by about 9:30 am after stopping in Marblemount at the Ranger station for an overnight backcountry permit, and were at the campground by noon where we set up two tents and had lunch.

Ross Lake is formed behind Ross Dam on the Skagit River and to get to Greenpoint the dam has to be crossed. The boys were fascinated by the dam and we stopped there for quite some time for a drink, a snack and to see what we could of the dam.

Greenpoint is a small peninsula that juts out into Ross Lake and is reached by a trail that winds down a rocky cliff. The area, though heavily used, is quite beautiful in its own right with splendid views up and down the lake and the mountains all around.

After setting up camp we did some hiking further along Ross Lake during the afternoon , but also spent time in the campground letting the boys explore and play in the water and when it was dark giving them our headlamps and letting them run around and explore that way.

Along the trail we found some items of interest, including two native orchids in bloom, the Giant Rattlesnake Orchis (Goodyera oblongifolia) and the Long-spurred Piperia (Piperia elongata). The Goodyera were everywhere, but the Piperia seemed more fussy about their location.

We almost always found the Piperias on the more elevated side of the trail (an indication that they like good drainage, I assume), and almost always in places where there was some protection from direct sun. We usually found them as individual plants and not clumps of plants.

Not much else was blooming but we did find and pick and eat a lot of Salal and Mahonia berries which were plentiful. There were a lot of the saprophytic plant, Candystick or Allotropa virgata, around, but they were finished blooming and spikes had turned black.

The weather was mixed the whole time and we even had a few sprinkles of rain, but the sunset that evening was gorgeous and the mountains were beautiful on the way out next morning and we took our time hiking out, both because the boys were tired and because we wanted pictures.

We hiked out the next morning and were on our way home before noon. The boys were so tired from the hiking and running around that they fell asleep as soon as they were in the car, but both of them were sure that they would willingly do it all again.

Note: Many of these pictures were taken by my wife.

Turkey Run State Park in Indiana

2011-11-25T10:17:00.000-08:00

In August we camped with out children and grandchildren (some of them) at Turkey Run State Park in central Indiana. It is a place we had never been before, though some of the others had been there, and we thoroghly enjoyed our time together and the beautiful scenery of the park.

The main feature of the park is an area of sandstone ravines that can be explored by hiking various trails. It was hard to get good pictures, both because of the deep shadows in the ravines, and because the pictures do not really show how beautiful this area is.

We did a lot of hiking, but also went swimming and tubing in Sand Creek which runs through the park. Even the smaller grandchildren were able to go since the water is not very deep anywhere along the creek. Though I used a lot of sunscreen my legs were badly sunburned since it was sunny and warm that day.

The wildflowers were mostly finished but we did see a few as well as a lot of other small nature, including millipedes and the strange caterpillar shown in the pictures below. I did not have time or opportunity to identify what we saw and have left them unidentified here, even those whose names I knew.

The area is also home to many old covered bridges - it has more than any other part of the country - and there are several of them in the park itself. We were more interested in hiking and enjoying family, but did manage to get to one of the bridges.

Whale Watching

2011-11-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

Towards the end of August, while our grandson was staying with us, we went whale-watching, something we had not done before, but will certainly do again. We sailed from Anacortes and were on the water from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, a very long day, but very worthwhile. We sailed with Mystic Sea Charters and were very pleased with the relaxed and friendly atmosphere of the trip.

The reports were that the Orcas, the most popular whales in Puget Sound had headed out to sea but that there were several humpbacks in the area, though far out in the sound. The trip to see them was quite long, but there was plenty to see as we made our way through the San Juan Islands and out to a more open area between Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula.

When we arrived at the area where the humpbacks had been reported we found not only a pair of them but a number of other boats following them and we stayed with them for about an hour, watching them dive and surface about every 10-15 minutes. The boat's captain said that this was quite unusual - that usually it was 30 minutes or more between dives.

On the way back we saw some Minke whales but there was really nothing to photograph, nor was there much point in trying to photograph the porpoises that followed the boats through the islands. The captain did, however, stop at Mermaid Rock to give us opportunity to see and photograph the sea lions there. They and the cormorants made quite and impressive display.

The captain also allowed our grandson, the only child on the boat to sit in the captain's seat and drive the boat. This was, for him, a bigger thing than seeing the whales. One of the crew also took him down into the engine room for an engine check, after giving him a pair of ear muffs to wear down in the hold. I am sure it was a day that he will not quickly forget - certainly it was for us.

Eastern Wyoming

2011-10-31T16:52:00.000-07:00

After spending the night sleeping in our van just outside the southeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park, we headed south and the east again through the town of Tensleep and through Tensleep Canyon, a spectacular drive, stopping frequently for pictures, and finally catching Interstate 90 once again, and taking it to the South Dakota border. There were a lot of storms moving through the area and that is reflected in the pictures we took along the way.

In eastern Wyoming we drove north to Devil's Tower National Monument, a place that we had never seen before. We were disappointed, however, since the Sturgis Bikers' Rally was on and the roads and monument were crammed with bikers. We stopped for a few pictures before driving on into South Dakota and across the state to the Missouri River which we crossed just as the sun was going down. WE stopped there to take some pictures of the sunset, the last pictures of the day.

Yellowstone National Park

2011-10-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

On our way to Michigan this summer, we went through Wyoming. We dropped down from Interstate 90 to the town of West Yellowstone, just outside the national park, and from there drove in Yellowstone National Park, spending most of day there exploring the west side of the upper loop (for those who have never been to Yellowstone, the main road through the park is a huge figure eight).

On our way into the park, we found that there was road work being done and long delays (as much as five hours, though we were only delayed a couple of hours). Though at first we found this frustrating, we soon discovered that the stops were long enough that we could get out of the car and do some exploring along the road which there follows the Madison River.

At one of the stops we found a native orchid, the Hooded Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes romanzoffiana), growing right on the edge of the river and in the same area found the saprophytic plant, Pine Drops (Pterosphora andromeda). In trying to get good pictures of these I nearly got left behind since traffic started moving and my wife had to move the car.

Once into the park proper we stopped at a number of locations on the west side of the upper loop. One of the first was the Fountain Paint Pots where we found the Hooded Ladies Tresses once again ( we would find it at several more locations before the day was over). There was also found the Fringed Gentian (Gentiana crinita), one of our favorite wildflowers, growing by the thousands in wetter areas.

Along the road we stopped at Nymph Lake, Roaring Mountain and Gibbon Falls, taking time at each location to get good photos. In fact, we spent considerable time at Gibbon Falls so that I could take time exposures of the falls and so that I could teach my wife to take them also. She, however, had forgotten her DSLR and had to be satisfied with using a point-and-shoot camera that we picked up in Idaho.

At the north end of the park we spent the rest of the day exploring the Mammoth Hot Springs area, driving the side roads and hiking the boardwalks. The day was alternately sunny and cloudy and we were able to get some good pictures. Near Canary Spring we saw and photographed a Killdeer who was looking for insects in the hot water at the top of the terraces.

As the sun went down we drove back to Norris Geyser Basin, hiked briefly there, and then drove across the middle of the park, down the east side of the lower loop and out of the park to place where we could set up our van for sleeping the night. One the way out we saw elk, bison and grizzly bear sow with her cub, all near the road. The pictures were poor, however, because of the low light.

Three Orchids on the Goat Mountain Trail

2011-10-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

I am way behind in blog posts, but I guess that gives me something to do over the winter months when there's not much hiking to be done. This post, then, goes back to the beginning of August, August 5th, to be exact. That afternoon for a few hours a friend and I went to do some hiking on the Goat Mountain trail in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

We did not go far enough on the trail - did not have enough time - to get out of the trees and into areas where we could view and photograph the surrounding mountains. We did see some interesting plants and wildflowers, however, and that is going to be the main subject of this post, though the light was not very good and photography was difficult.

The plants we saw, all under rather heavy forest cover, were primarily saprophytes. That name is no longer in common use as a result of further research on these plants, but I cannot remember what they are now called. These are plants without chlorophyll, leafless, and living off decayed matter in the soil through a sympiotic relationship with soil fungi.

One of these plants that seemed to be everywhere was Monotropa uniflora, Indian Pipes, also known as the Ghost Plant or Corpse Plant for obvious reasons. We also saw two saprophytic orchids, both Coralroots, though one of them was finished blooming. They were the Spotted Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata and the Early Coralroot, Corallorhiza trifida.

The Early Coralroot was finished blooming, but there were many nice clumps of them that we will have to go back and see next year when they are still blooming. We did see one other orchid in bloom that is not a saprophyte, however, the everywhere present Listera banksiana, the Northern Twayblade. I did not get the best pictures of it, so this will have to do.

One other plant, blooming everywhere, especially in damper areas, was the Long-tailed Ginger, Asarum caudatum. Unless you are looking for it or know what you are seeing, its flowers are not usually noticed since they lie on the ground under the leaves. Seeing them is always a treat since their color, long tails and unique shape are unmatched.

Olympic National Park

2011-09-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

On August 3rd we decided to take a day and get away to Olympic National Park, one of our favorite places. We booked the earliest and latest ferries leaving Coupeville on Whidbey Island and returning from Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula and were in the park by a little after 9:00 am. We stopped on the way for some pictures of the sunrise at Penn Cove on Whidbey Island..

We started the day at Lake Crescent, west of Port Angeles and on the northern end of the park andat East Beach we looked for and found two orchids, the Stream Orchid or Chatterbox (Epipactis gigantea) and the Elegant Piperia (Piperia elegans). Someone, probably a park employee, had taken a trimmer to the Epipactis, leaving only a few spikes of flowers untouched.

We photographed them and the Piperia, taking several hours, since my wife is learning to use the macro lens and tripod, took pictures of lake and other items of interest and finally headed back east, looking for the Little River Road which runs from the area of the lake to the Hurricane Ridge Road. When we found the road we drove it very slowly looking for another Piperia along the road.

We soon found what we were looking for, the Slender White Piperia, Piperia candida, but were a little disappointed because it was well past its prime though there were still flowers to photograph on the many spikes growing there. Again, my wife, spent as much time as I did with macro lens and tripod taking pictures of her own, some of which turned out better than mine.

A fairly stiff breeze made photography even more difficult, but when we came to a more sheltered area, a dry south bank well covered with moss, we found our fourth orchid of the day, another Piperia, this time Piperia elongata, the Long-spurred Piperia. There were quite a number of them, all growing as single plants and favoring the steeper areas of the bank.

After driving the rest of road and making several other stops for photos, we finally arrived at the Hurricane Ridge Road, and drove up it stopping at various locations to photograph two Bog Orchids that seemed to be everywhere, the Slender Bog Orchis, Platanthera stricta, and the Tall White Northern Bog Orchis, Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata.

We had been told by a friend that population of a natural hybrid between these two, growing in the ditches near the entrance kiosk, had been mowed by the Park Service and found it so, not a plant left of either parent or of the hybrid. Thankfully, the ditches further up had not been mowed, but we only found the two parents and not the hybrid of the two.

We stopped often to take pictures both of the scenery and wildflowersmany of which were blooming. We photographed Western Wallflower (Erysimium capitatum), Indian Thistle (Cirsium edule), Olympic Onion (Allium crenulatum), Elegant Lupine (Lupinus lepidus), White Water Buttercup (Ranunculus aquatilis), and Mountain Heliotrope (Valeriana sitchensis).

The loveliest of all were the Avalanche Lilies (Erythronium montanum), which was growing everywhere at higher elevations. We have seen these by the millions along the Obstruction Point Road which unfortunately was closed on this occasion due to the large amount of snow we receive din the mountains last winter. These large white and yellow flowers are as delicate as can be imagined.

At the top of Hurricane Ridge we took more pictures and then proceeded on to the end of the ridge where we found our seventh orchid and fourth Piperia, a dwarf form of Piperia unalascensis, the Alaskan Piperia, the form named after its location (fma. olympica). This we photographed as the fog rolled in and also took pictures of the Glacier Lilies (Erythronium grandiflorum).

The wildflowers were in abundance along the trail the follows the end of the ridge and I also took photos of a dwarf form of the Columbian Lily (Lilium columbianum) and of the Spreading Phlox (Phlox diffusa). as well as pictures of a deer that wondered into the area and of the view from the ridge, often obscured by clouds, but all the more beautiful for that.

The day was foggy almost all day, but the fog made for some very interesting and unusual pictures, though the peaks were for the most part not visible. We had a great deal of fun trying to catch some of these effects with our cameras, though they were not always successful. Through the fog we also caught glimpses of a group of mountain sheep, but were not really able to get good pictures.

Stopping at the visitor's center on our way back we took more pictures there as the sun came out, and then headed down. Near the top we found the Slender White Piperia once again, this time in prime condition and stopped for pictures, stopping only once more to take pictures this time of the saprophytic Pinedrops (Pterospora andromeda) which were growing on a woodland bank.

Arriving in Port Townsend with some time to spare before catching the ferry, we visited Kinsey Battery of old Fort Worden and lighthouses in Port Townsend and at Point Wilson. We managed to get some pictures of each before catching the ferry and heading home as the sun set at the end of a very satisfying and relaxing day.
We can't wait to go again.

More Derelict Vehicles

2011-09-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite places in the county is a home in the foothills of the North Cascades that has old vehicles and derelict machinery all over the property, all of it gradually rusting into oblivion. On July 27th we went with several family members to do some photography there.

While there we ventured further on to the property and looking through the window of one of the old buildings noticed this rather creepy item in front of another window. The house is filled with old objects and we had photographed it before, but had never looked in the windows or seen this.

A previous blog post has other pictures of this place and of the machinery there and my son-in-law's Flickr page also has photos:
http://ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2011/01/derelict-machinery.html.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scott_n_rose/

Racehorse Falls

2011-09-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

July 27 some of our children were in town for a wedding and since my son-in-law is an avid photographer, we decided to go out for part of the day to Racehorse Falls, a short drive away and a short hike through the woods, though a bit of a scramble over old logs and boulders. Two of my daughters, my son-in-law and myself were on the excursion.

Racehorse Falls is on Racehorse Creek along the North Fork of the Nooksack River and on the edge of the North Cascades. The falls and creek are named after a small cave on the edge of the falls that looks exactly like the head of a horse. The horse's head is especially visible in the first picture to the the viewers left along the edge of the falls.

After the scramble through the old logs and boulders along the creek we spent some time at the falls taking pictures, especially time exposures, and even climbed along the steep bank of the creek to the rock ledges just below the falls, one of the best vantage points. These, then are some of the pictures we took there, including a few shots of some of my family.

For more information see the following sites:
http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/nws/waterfall.php?num=506
http://ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/09/nooksack-falls-and-racehorse-falls.html

North Cascades Highway

2011-08-31T18:07:00.000-07:00

On July 25th we traveled to the Spokane area to bring our handicapped son back to the facility where he lives. He had been home for a few days to visit with family who were in town for a wedding. We traveled the northernmost route, taking the North Cascades Highway (Hwy. 20) through North Cascades National Park.

My son-in-law and daughter and their daughter were along and he is an avid photographer as well. We took a lot of time, enjoying the scenery and stopping often to take pictures of the flowers, the waterfalls and the mountains: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scott_n_rose/.

Skagit River

We stopped for the first time at the town of Concrete where we took some photos of the old concrete storage towers along the highway. Further on we stopped in Newhalem where we photographed the old train engine there and our little granddaughter enjoying some time out of the car.

Concrete

Number 6

Kailyn

Diablo Dam

Most of the waterfalls were not named and some of the time exposures were of the Skagit River itself. We had to stop several times for construction and used the opportunity to photograph some wildflowers, an unidentified Lupine, some Penstemons and several bog orchids.

The Slender Bog Orchis (Platanthera stricta) was everywhere and there were several places where the Bog Candles (Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata) were growing profusely. All-in-all we took nearly ten hours to make what is normally about a seven hour trip.

The day was cloudy and we had to contend with rain, but the mist and clouds did give some opportunity for some mood shots of the mountains. We had better weather only when we left the mountain behind and got into the more open and drier areas of Eastern Washington.

Grand Coulee Dam

Creston, Washington (nearly a ghost town)

Canadian Rockies 2011

2011-08-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

Since we have family in Edmonton, a son-in-law, a daughter, a granddaughter and a soon-to-be second grandchild, we have opportunity nearly every summer to visit the Canadian Rockies. The past two summers we went backpacking in Mount Robson Provincial Park in British Columbia: http://ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/07/backpacking-in-canadian-rockies.html. This year we were unable to do the backpacking because of other obligations, but did manage to get in a full day of sight-seeing in Robson and in Jasper National Park in Alberta.

Maligne Lake, Jasper

We left home very early Monday morning and drove through the night, arriving at Robson about 6:00 am at the Berg Lake trailhead. My wife had a very bad headache and wanted to sleep a while in the car, but I did some hiking up the trail on my own, following the river and going as far as the Kinney Lake campground, arriving back at the car at around 11:00 am.

Kinney Lake

We were a week later than last year but because of a very cold and wet spring many of the wildflowers we had seen earlier last year were still in bloom this year. Some of the wildflowers I saw were the Common Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia), Red Clover, a non-native (Trifolium pratense) and Sticky Geranium (Geranium viscosissimum), shown here in the order listed.

We had gone especially to see the orchids, however, and I counted ten species and varieties in the few hours I hiked. One species, the Lesser Rattlesnake Orchis (Goodyera repens) was not yet in bloom. The two Lady's Slippers were nearly finished and I had to look hard to find some decent flowers. One species we had seen the year before, the Pad-leaved Orchis (Platanthera orbiculata) I did not find.

Small Round-leaf Orchis (Amerorchis rotundifolia)

Sparrow's-egg Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium passerinum)

Large Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens)

Blunt-leafed Rein Orchis (Platanthera obtusata)

Northern and Heart-leaved Twayblades (Listera borealis and cordata)

Leaving the Berg Lake trailhead we drove across the rest of Mount Robson Park and then through the north part of Jasper National Park, stopping often to examine the wildflowers and to take pictures. We found one of my favorite wildflowers, the Rattlebox, in bloom along with a number of orchids we had not seen on the Berg Lake trail, another five species and varieties, shown below.

We also found along the roadside the Yellow Clematis (Clematis tangutica), here an invasive weed, but very beautiful. When the sun came out later in the day there were a lot of butterflies but I managed a good shot of only one of them, the White Admiral (Limenitis arthemis).

One of the joys of driving through this area is that the roadsides are filled with white and green Platantheras (Bog Orchids) at this time of the year, and this year was no exception. We saw thousands of these native orchids in every wet boggy area along the way, and not only found them but one new native orchid, Coeloglossum viride var. virescens, the Long-bracted Green Orchis.

Alaskan Piperia (Piperia unalascensis) and Northern Green Bog Orchis (Platanthera aquilonis)

We found these orchids not only on the main east-west road through Robson and Jasper, but also on the Maligne Lake Road, one of the most scenic drives in Jasper, and which we followed nearly to its end. There we not only found the Coeloglossum but more of the Yellow Lady's Slipper, along with thousands of Wood Lilies and other wildflowers.

Long-bracted Green Orchis (Coeloglossum viride var. virescens)

Maligne Lake

Large Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens)

Wood Lily (Lilium Philadelphicum)

This year was also one of the best for wildlife. We saw several black bear, a number of deer, bull elk and moose with their antlers still in velvet, some mountain sheep looking a bit ratty with their half-shed winter coats, and a coyote near Jasper town. In every case were able to get pictures as souvenirs. Finishing our sightseeing later that evening we spent the night in Hinton, east of Jasper, and went on to family the next morning.

On our way home we made sure we had time to hike in Robson once again and this time hiked together and further up the Berg Lake Trail. In addition to the orchids I had seen a week earlier, we also saw a number of wildflowers that included Goatsbeard (Aruncus sylvester) and Red Columbine (Aquilegia formosa).

Muttart Conservatory and the Orchid Species Preservation Foundation

2011-08-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

While in Edmonton in July we went via an invitation from a friend to Muttart Conservatory. We went, however, not to see the public buildings, but to see the work of the Orchid Species Preservation Foundation. This group works behind the scenes at Muttart, using the Conservatory's facilities, but paying its own way.

Masdevallia ignea

The group has a very large and varied collection of mostly orchid species that have been donated by various individuals. These collections are maintained by the group which operates primarily with volunteer help. It uses three areas of Muttart's greenhouses to house a warm, an intermediate and a cool collection.

Masdevallia rimarima var. alba

Dracula hybrid

Masdevallia pinocchio

On the day we visited the group was having a repotting session. If I had been alone I would have enjoyed staying to help, but was with my wife, daughter and baby granddaughter, and did not dare offer. We did have opportunity to see and photograph the collection, however, and enjoyed the time spent there.

Sobralia candida

Sobralia species

All too often when a person for one reason or another is unable to maintain a collection of orchids, the plants die or at best are dispersed. This kind of foundation provides a nice alternative and plants that are duplicated or not needed in the collection are sold to raise funds for the group.

Rhynchostele cordata

Meiracyllium trinasutum

Bulbophyllum lobbii

Vanda hybrid

Stanhopea gibbosa

The group will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in October with meetings, special displays in the conservatory, speakers and other events. We hope they do well and wish them the best in their efforts. More such organizations are needed in the world of orchids.

We did go through the Conservatory itself, but were a bit disappointed - the collection of plants, though well maintained and beautifully presented was neither very large nor very unusual. In fact, many of the plants were common annuals or perennials.

Chiwaukum Creek

2011-07-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite places for wildflowers is Chiwaukum Creek near Leavenworth and on June 10th, after visiting Derby Canyon and a place near Plain where we looked for Cypripedium fasciculatum, we spent some time hiking along the creek.

Driving into the campground at the trailhead we saw a Ruffed Grouse with her chicks. We watched her for a while calling to the chicks and were able to get pictures, but the chicks kept in the vegetation at the roadside and we were unable to get any pictures of them.

After parking the car we headed for a site near the trailhead where we knew the Western Fairy Slipper (Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis) grew and found it everywhere in the woods, often in clumps of three or four plants, something we've not seen before.

In fact the Fairy Slippers were everywhere in the woods along the creek and among them we found one plant that appeared to be a semi-alba form with no coloring in the sepals and petals. That these flowers lose their color as they die may mean that we only found an older flower.

We also found some Morels which we took home and used in omelets the next morning, but the Mountain Roses (Lewisia tweedyi) were the real hit of the day. We found them in large clumps all along the trails often on inaccessible ledges and cliffs.

We photographed the Lewisia and all the other wildflowers we found including the wild Ginger and just meandered along the unused road and then the trail for several miles, enjoying the sunshine and the rushing creek and making no effort to hurry.

Some of the wildflowers we saw were Slender Woodland Star (Lithophragma tenellum), Slender Paintbrush (Castilleja miniata), Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), Naked Broomrape (Orobanche uniflora), Long-tailed Ginger (Asarum caudatum), and Stream Violet (Viola glabella).

We returned to our car about 2:00 and headed home relaxed and happy after a great day's outing to this favorite place. We've gone before and we'll go again if we're able. The story of a previous hike at Chiwaukum Creek can be found here: http://ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/06/chiwaukum-creek.html.

Near Plain, Washington

2011-07-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

After leaving Derby Canyon early in the morning on the 10th of June, we went on to the town of Plain, north of Leavenworth. We visited a site outside the town looking for the rare Clustered Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium fasciculatum), also known as the Brownie Lady's Slipper.

We quickly found a lot of the Western Spotted Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis) in the woods. They seem to be very abundant this year and this site was no exception. We searched everywhere for the Lady's Slipper, however, and in the end only found four plants.

We spent quite some time photographing them, not an easy task on the steep slopes where they grow and also took a few other pictures of the area and the wildflowers there before going on to our final hiking destination, Chiwaukum Creek, west of Leavenworth.

We had also been to the area about a month earlier and took a few pictures then as well, especially of the Oregon Anemones (Anemone oregana) in bloom. At that time we found some of the native orchids growing in the woods but not yet blooming.

Bog-trotting on Vancouver Island

2011-07-22T10:15:00.001-07:00

On July 20, I traveled to Vancouver Island to meet a friend from New York and to go hunting with him for a very rare native orchid. He was in Vancouver in the middle of a native-orchid trek that had already covered 5000 miles. He had contacted Dr. Hans Roemer, a botanist and ecologist with the BC government who agreed to take us on a guided hike to see this orchid, Platanthera chorisiana, Chamisso's Orchid.

We had looked for this orchid in several locations here in Washington where it had been previously reported. We looked twice at Lake Serene and three or four times at Lake Elizabeth, both in the Central Cascades. At Lake Serene we discovered that the site had been destroyed by a rockslide, and at Lake Elizabeth could not find the plants which had been reported growing on a sedge mat on the far side of the lake.

The plant is actually quite small and insignificant - only about 15 cm with 3 mm flowers that do not open very far and are self-pollinating. We did find them in several different locations, about fifteen plants in all, but had to look hard for them as they were often hidden in other vegetation. Dr. Roemer had discovered them there years ago and had more recently obtained GPS coordinates for them.

Our excursion took us about two hours away from Victoria to the west and past the town of Sooke to a forest road that went up about 700 meters (2000 feet) above sea level to a very wet and boggy area, just the right conditions for this orchid which likes cold, high-altitude bogs. This day a cold mist was blowing in from the sea and that in combination with wading through the bog left us cold and wet.

We found the orchid immediately in the bog next to the place we parked, several plants growing on the north side of trees in somewhat shaded and slightly drier locations than the other plants. Growing all around were two other native orchids, the Slender Bog Orchis (Platanthera stricta) and the Bog Candle (Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata), along with numerous sedges and other bog plants.

There was evidence of bears everywhere, skunk cabbages dug up with their roots eaten and a lot of scat, some of it very fresh, but we saw no bears. We hiked in for about two hours, through open areas full of Cotton Grass and wildflowers, squelching our way through the bog and always watching for deeper holes. Tom, the friend from New York, actually did fall into one of the holes and got wet up to his knees.

We photographed a number of other wildflowers including the Columbia Lily (Lilium columbianum), the Swamp Gentian (Gentiana douglasiana), the Yellow Pond Lily (Nuphar polysepala), the Sticky False Asphodel (Tolfieldia glutinosa), an Aster that I did not ask about and have been unable to identify, and the ever-present Labrador Tea (Ledum groenlandicum).

At the location where Dr. Roemer had found Chamisso's Orchid previously we searched for quite some time and eventually found about a dozen plants. I am sure there were more, but they are so small and blend in so well with the surrounding plants, that we were fortunate to find so many. Ryan, a friend of Dr. Roemer, who accompanied us, seemed to be the best at finding them.

When we returned, we visited two other sites, a Provincial Park where Piperia elegans, the Elegant Piperia, was growing along the seaside. Many of the plants there were deformed, probably as the result of a late frost, according to Dr. Roemer. At his home we found that Piperia and another, Piperia transversa, the Flat-spurred Piperia, growing in the woods.

After enjoying the gracious hospitality of Dr. Roemer and his wonderful wife, Heidi, with coffee and tarts, we headed back to Victoria and parted ways, Tom to catch up with his family, and myself to catch the ferry for the mainland and home. It was a wonderful day, made all the more wonderful by Dr. Roemer's encyclopaedic knowledge of the flora, ecology and geology of Vancouver Island.

Derby Canyon Revisted

2011-07-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

On our way home from Spokane and Medical Lake on the 10th of June we left early in the morning to give ourselves a bit of time for some sightseeing and hiking. Our first stop was Derby Canyon, a favorite place of ours. We went to see the Brownie Peony in bloom, but we were too late - it was already finished.

We did climb the ridge to see what other wildflowers were in bloom and found, as expected the Western Spotted Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis) and the Lyall's Mariposa Lily (Calochortus lyallii), along with a number of other interesting wildflowers.

Western Spotted Coralroot

Lyall's Mariposa Lily

Tall Silvercrown

Shrubby Penstemon

After an hour or so exploring we were leaving and saw the Mountain Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium montanum) growing on the bank right along the road. There were only six plants, but they were all in flower, two smaller plants right at the roadside that looked like seedlings, and four larger plants with two flowers each.

We went back to where we had parked the car and walked back up the road to take pictures, a little difficult in the low light (the sun was just coming up), and with the plants growing on a rather steep bank. We spent another hour or so taking pictures of this elegant orchid.

Medical Lake, Washington

2011-07-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

We were in Medical Lake, Washington, on the 9th of June to see our handicapped son and while there went for a ride in the evening in the countryside. We saw a lot of wildflowers and birds and watched the sun go down before heading back to bring him to the place where he stays. These are some of the pictures we took.

Sticky Geranium (Geranium viscosissimum)

Missouri Iris (Iris missouriensis)

Thompson's Paintbrush (Castilleja thompsonii)

Douglas' Onion (Allium douglasii)

I followed this butterfly and others around trying to get photos and finally managed these. The butterfly, however, I have been unable to identify. The birds, California Quail, and both the Eastern and Western Kingbirds were easier and we watched the Kingbirds darting from the fences for insects.

Eastern Kingbird

California Quail

Western Kingbird

Au Sable Institute and Cornet Bay

2011-07-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

I had been working long hours and Edward had been job hunting and we were both weary of it all and decided to take Friday morning (June 3) off and do a bit of hiking. It turned into a beautiful sunny day as we drove to Whidbey Island to visit two of our favorite spots there.

We went first to the Pacific Rim Campus of the Au Sable Institute just south of Coupeville and took a walk through their woods looking for orchids in bloom. This is one of the few known locations of the Ozette Coralroot, a rare variety of the Spotted Coralroot found only in Washington State.

Walking through the woods we found a few Fairy Slippers still in bloom and many plants of the Western Spotted Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis), some of them in large clumps. We found both the brown stemmed and the red-stemmed forms of the plant.

We also found a few that seemed to be intermediate between the Western Spotted and the Ozette, but perhaps they only represent more of the variation within this species. In any case, I had never seen so many of them in one location and never so many in this location. They were everywhere.

We found the Ozette Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata var. ozettensis), too, but not as many as previous years. Nor were they in bloom, but have several weeks to go before they bloom. We've seen them in full bloom in early June, but this year everything is late due to a long spell of cold rainy weather.

Finished at Au Sable, we went back to the north end of Whidbey Island and the area of Deception Pass State Park. We visited the part of the park that borders the south side of Cornet Bay and hiked the area around Hoypus Hill, looking for the Western Coralroot (C. mertensiana).

We found them in their usual haunts but they, too, were just beginning to bloom. We took some pictures, but will have to go back when they are at their peak. They are also very late this year as a result of the weather. It was obvious though that both the purple and yellow-stemmed varieties were present.

We managed to get pictures also a small blue butterfly and of a Fox Sparrow, but there was little else to photograph and toward the end of the morning we were lost a bit on the winding trails and were trying to find our way rather than thinking about pictures.

Washington Park

2011-07-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

I made two more trips to Washington Park recently. I had to be in Mount Vernon, Washington, on Tuesday evening, May 24th, and went first for a couple of hours to see if the Fairy Slippers were still blooming and if the Coralroots had opened. I was not disappointed either by the weather or the flowers.

I found both, a few Fairy Slippers still at their prime and numerous Coralroots at the peak of their blooming. These leafless, saprophytic orchids always fascinate me, not only for their lack of chlorophyll but for their unpredictability. One never knows quite where they will spring up and how many there will be.

The Chocolate Lilies (Fritillaria affinis) were also in bloom and though relatively common were a delight to see once again. The Madrone trees were also putting out new growth and flowers, the flowers white and the new growth a soft green and pink, neither of which I had seen before.

One the second trip on May 27, I went with my wife and son and we not only saw the Coralroots and the Chocolate Lilies, but were privileged to watch a number of eagles both immature and adult in the trees and in the air near the south end of the park. The Fairy Slippers, however, were gone.

For the rest we enjoyed the scenery, the boats, the thunderheads building in the east, and the glorious sunshine of which we have seen far too little this spring. We took several hours walking the two miles around the park and then headed home for a bit of supper and a quiet evening.

Fort Ebey, Fort Casey and Fort Worden

2011-07-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

The week of May 16th through 20th was very busy. After two days traveling to Oregon and the Columbia River gorge, I left again Wednesday afternoon on a camping trip with some young adults. We headed for Whidbey Island where we planned to camp and visit Forts Ebey, Casey and Worden on both sides of the Straits of San Juan de Fuca, on Whidbey Island and on the Olympic Peninsula.

Forts Casey and Worden along with Fort Flagler were built in the late 1800's to protect the straits and the city of Seattle to the south. These forts were deactivated in the 1930's but reopened, refurbished and rearmed at the beginning of World War II. They are now all beautiful state parks. Fort Ebey was built during World War II and is now also a state park.

We camped in Fort Ebey State Park on a bluff overlooking the San Juan Straits and the Olympic Mountains to the west. We could also see Mount Rainier to the south from our campsite. The weather was the best we've had yet this year and the trip was a great success, busy but relaxing, and we had plenty of time to explore the area and the three forts we had come to see.

The first fort we visited was Fort Ebey, built during World War II, which is mostly underground and difficult to photograph, but in the area around the fort we watched some paragliders working the currents off the bluffs just before the sun went down. The next day we visited the "beach" and explored the bluffs near the beach to the north of the fort itself.

Fort Casey is the most interesting of the forts and we spent several hours there, both at the fort and down on the shore, as well as at the Admiralty Head Lighthouse which is just to the north of the fort and now operated as a museum. Fort Casey is the only fort which has some of its guns though they are not the original ordnance, but guns brought in from the Philippines after Word War II.

Near Fort Casey there was an abundance of a rare Paintbrush, the Golden Paintbrush, Castilleja levisecta, which was protected by a fence but which I was able to photograph from outside the fence. We also found a "boat" with an address on it which a schoolchild had released near Tacoma and which had made its way north as far as Fort Casey.

After taking the ferry across from Fort Casey we visited Port Townsend and Fort Worden and saw both the fort itself and the battery down on the beach, Battery Kinzie. I also took the time to walk down to the Point Wilson lighthouse on the shore and take some photos there. These forts are wonderful places for photography with many opportunities for unusual pictures

The group campsite we used is a great place to watch the shipping in the straits and we had opportunity to see more of it when we took the ferry across the straits to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula and Fort Worden to the north of the town. Among the vessels was the USS Shoup, a guided missile destroyer, but most were freighters or pleasure boats.

Hiking in the Columbia Gorge

2011-07-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

Celery-leaved Buttercup

Tuesday, May 17
Finished exploring and photographing the waterfalls along old Highway 30 on the Oregon side of the Columbia River gorge, we set out to do some hiking in the area of Horsetail Falls. We had hoped to take the Rock of Ages trail to the top of the gorge, but without a map, which we had been unable to obtain, we could not find our trail and ended following the Gorge Trail first to the east and then to the west enjoying whatever we could find along the trail.

Herb Robert

Mountain Heliotrope

Large False Solomon's Seal and Western Baneberry

Tall Bugbane

Pacific Bleeding Heart

We hiked under one falls, Oneonta Falls, and when I say "under" that's exactly what we did. It appears to me that at sometime a path was blasted behind the falls and this is where we went through to the other side. It was hard to get pictures there, but I did try, though there are so many falls in the area, that after a while they are indistinguishable from each other.

We found a lot of wildflowers including two native orchids, the Western Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var, occidentalis, and the Western Heart-leaved Twayblade, Listera cordata var. cordata in both its color forms, though the red form was nearly finished blooming. We also found another waterfall along the trail and had some spectacular views of the gorge. The hike was not strenuous and not what we had expected, but we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and were delighted to find the two orchids.

I managed, among other things to get some decent photos of a Stellar's Jay and of two favorite wildflowers, the Fairy Bells and Fendler's Waterleaf. Finished hiking around 2:00, we headed for Portland and for my speaking engagement and the home of the some of the members of the Oregon Orchid Society at whose home we cleaned up, changed and got ready for the meeting. After the meeting we drove home through the night and arrived back tired by satisfied.

Columbia River Gorge

2011-06-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

We spent Monday evening and Tuesday morning exploring old Highway 30 on the Oregon side of the Columbia River gorge, starting out at sunrise and arriving at our hiking destination around noon. What a beautiful area that is with all its waterfalls and with the awesome scenery of the gorge visible all along the route.

Horsetail FAlls and Multnomah Falls

The Bridge at Multnomah Falls

Vista House

The Columbia Gorge Looking East from Vista House

The Gorge Looking West from Vista House

Sunset through the Windows of Vista House

We started taking pictures of the falls already Monday evening, but photography was a bit difficult since the sun was already going down and the contrast between sun and shadow did not allow for really good photos. We drove from the Bridge of the Gods to Vista House before looking for a place to spend the night.

The next morning we started early and drove from Pendleton back to Horsetail Falls along old Highway 30. We stopped at most of the falls for pictures, even though we had seen them the evening before. We also stopped for pictures of some of the wildflowers that were growing along the road.

The Gorge Looking East from Angel's Landing

Looking East with Vista House Visible on the Cliffs at the Right

Through the Parapet at Vista House

Latourell Falls

The Falls at Sheppherd's Dell

Sheppherd's Dell

Blue-eyed Mary

Unnamed Rivulet

Common Camas

The Cams had a few White-flowered Forms

Poison Delphinium

Horsetail Falls

Piggy-back Plant

Multnomah Falls

We spent Tuesday afternoon hiking before heading to Portland but that's another post. All in all it was an incredible two days. We had seen so much that we were a bit overwhelmed by it all and it was a relief to land in Portland at a friend's home in preparation for the meeting of the Oregon Orchid Society Tuesday evening at which I spoke on the "Native Orchids of the Pacific Northwest."

Catherine Creek

2011-06-06T12:16:00.000-07:00

After leaving Snow Mountain Ranch on May 16th, we headed for the Columbia River gorge and Catherine Creek, one of our favorite places in the gorge. On the way we stopped to take pictures in several different places both along Highway 82 and along Highway 14, the highway that runs the length of the gorge on the Washington side.

Arriving at Catherine Creek around 1:00 in the afternoon, we found that we were earlier than last year and that some of the flowers we had come to see were not blooming yet. We did, however, find wildflowers we had not seen there before including the Bitterroots. We photographed many of the flowers and the creek and scenery as well before heading on to our next location, the Oregon side of the gorge.

We saw more wildflowers than I could count. Those shown here are (in order), Bitterroot (Lewsia rediviva), Broadleaf Stonecrop (2 pictures), Cornflower, Sea Blush (2 pictures), Chickweed Monkeyflower, White-top Clover and Fiddleneck. My wife also had two encounters with rattlesnakes. She almost stepped on a small one and was about to climb a rocky outcrop when she noticed a large snake sunning itself on the top of the rocks. I was disappointed that I didn't at least get to see them.

We had hoped to visit Multnomah Falls in Oregon and do some hiking in that area. We arrived there as the sun was going down and spent some time around the falls and scouting a place for the next day's hiking before going on to find a place to spend the night. We ended up at a truck stop and after putting the curtains up in the back of our van and laying out our pads and sleeping bags spent a comfortable and quiet night there.

That is all the subject of another post, but we did stop in various places along the gorge to take pictures of the scenery, the wildflowers and other things of interest. It was at one of these stops that I not only saw but was able to photograph as Scrub Jay, a new bird for me, and a very beautiful bird, too, in my opinion. We saw him in place east of Bingen, Washington, where we had gotten out to explore.

Snow Mountain Ranch

2011-06-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

We've been getting around. I was scheduled to speak for the Oregon Orchid Society on the native orchids of the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday evening, May 17th. We decided to leave a day early and get some hiking in and so left home Monday morning of the 16th and drove to the area of Yakima, Washington, and to the Snow Mountain Ranch, part of the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy, and an old ranch site.

The place had been recommended by our good friend, Marti Anderson, who had been there recently and reported the evidence of a fire (http://meanderingwa.blogspot.com/2011/05/checking-out-burn.html). We found the same thing and were a bit disappointed, as she was on her last visit, by the sparsity of the wildflowers, though we had a very nice hike up the ridge.

The site is typical of the area - rather dry with few trees except in the folds between the hills and wherever there is water. The day was dry, though mostly overcast, with evidence of recent rains and some of the trails were quite muddy, but we were prepared for that and took our time hiking the trails and exploring the area while looking for wildflowers.

After beginning our hike near the stream that flows at the bottom of the ranch we passed Balanced Rock and headed up the Wildflower Trail. Evidence of the recent fire was everywhere in the burned sagebrush, fence posts and bare areas that had not yet recovered. We saw few others until we ended the hike when it seemed as though everyone had decided to go hiking.

The main wildflowers we saw were the Large-flowerd Brodiaea, what I believe are the Kittitas Larkspur and the Silvery Lupine, and the ever-present Arrowleaf Balsamroot. Interestingly, the Brodiaea on the west side of the ridge were mostly pale blue to white in color while the Brodiaea on the east side were a very dark blue, as the pictures below indicate.

Some other wildflowers were Fleabane (I am not sure which one), Douglas' Buckwheat, Common Clarkia, Gray's Desert Parsley, Gairdner's Penstemon, what I believe to be the Rosy Balsamroot, and Modoc's Hawksbeard. The Giant-head Clover were mostly finished blooming, but the seedheads were still quite attractive.

We were very much attracted by the way the flowers grew in and through the sagebrush, especially the Showy Phlox, if I have it identified correctly. Hiking aback along the stream once again, we managed to get some pictures of the Red-wing Blackbirds that had come out as the weather gradually improved and the sun began to break through.

Derby Canyon

2011-05-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

Out and about on Friday, May 13th, we left Ellensburg after finishing our hike at Manastash Ridge and headed for the area of Leavenworth, Washington. Leavenworth is a faux Bavarian tourist town that is of no interest at all to us, though we have been through it hundreds of times, but the area is worth exploring.

We went first to Derby Canyon near Peshastin, Washington, a favorite spot for wildflowers and were not disappointed. Hiking one of the ridges in the area we found few wildflowers in bloom besides the Balsamroots. One plant we were looking for, the Western Peony was in bud but not in flower.

Derby Canyon has some interesting rock formations, part of the Chumstick formation which also includes Pinnacles State Park. This strange sandstone monolith is at the top of the ridge we climbed and walked looking for wildflowers. It stands about 20 feet tall and dominates the ridge line.

As we were leaving, however, my wife spotted several clumps of Lewisia tweedyi growing on the rocks of the ridge high above us. We climbed up and took quite some time admiring and photographing them and then moved on to a lower area where we found Trillium petiolatum in bloom.

As is evident from the photos, the Lewisia is one of our most beautiful wildflowers and the Trillium one of our most unusual. Those two made the whole trip worthwhile, though we would have liked to have seen in the Peony, a six inch high clump of feathered leaves, in flower.

Our last stop was near Plain, north of Leavenworth, where we were looking for several plant including a rare Lady's Slipper. We did not find what we were looking for in bloom, but found the forest floor carpeted with the Oregon Anemone, Anemone oregana. The Glacier Lilies were there, too, but they were past their prime.

Medical Lake, Washington

2011-05-24T10:31:00.000-07:00

Thursday evening, May 12th, after supper and some games of chess with our son, we went for a ride in the area to the west of Medical Lake, a small town west of Spokane. These are some of the pictures we took. The Osprey was on a nesting pole and was not about to move. The Yellow-headed Blackbirds did not really come close enough for good pictures and there were few flowers blooming. We had hoped to see a marshy field of Common Camas in bloom, but they were not open yet.

The following pictures are from May 6th last year and show the Camas in bloom and the Osprey in flight. I posted some pictures at that time: http://ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/08/medical-lake.html, but these are pictures from 2010 that I've not previously posted. I've included the Camas pictures to show the difference between this year and last. Eastern Washington, if anything, is further behind than we are here in Western Washington.

Note: the Yellow-headed Blackbird was photographed by my wife.