Derby Canyon

Derby Canyon lies just east of Peshastin, Washington, and is one of many such canyons in the foothills on the east slopes of the Cascades.  It is a favorite spot of ours for wildflowers and orchids, though we did not see any orchids on this trip.  We drove part way up one of the roads in the canyon and hiked one of the sandstone ridges found in the canyon.

The canyon itself is scenic and provides views of the Cascades to the west.

the canyon

sandstone formations

the Cascades

The wildflowers, especially in the spring, are spectacular.

Modoc Hawksbeard

Mountain Rose

Arrowleaf Balsamroot

Goat's Beard

Wild Rose

Chokecherry

Lyall's Mariposa Lily

We saw a lot of butterflies and moths, but were not able to get photos of all of them.

unidentified moths

 Silvery Blues and Acmon Blues

Propetius' Dusky Wing Skipper

My wife takes even more photos than I do and some of these are hers.

Nancy

And as always there are many other things to photograph.

Lupine leaves

Lichens

Milkweed

dead Balsamroot flowers

Derby Canyon Revisted

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.