Stop #1: Old Salmon River trail. Went down, stood by the water.
Near the water, Arnica amplexicaulis.
There is a spot about half a mile in with a great rocky cliff that comes down to the water that is covered in moss, lichen and Sedum spathulifolium and oreganum. This is Sedum spathulifolium or maybe a hybrid...
After relaxing by the water for a while, I picked up and went to Mount Hood Meadows... yes the skiing place. But now that all the people with boards strapped to their feet were gone, you could see what the place actually looked like.
Waterfall. The exciting part of the meadows is the boggy part. All sorts of orchids and rare bog plants growing everywhere.
Pedicularis racemosa. It's an Elephant flower... can you see the trunk twirled around and the ears? I also saw Pedicularis groenlandica (the nice purple elephant head) but it's past bloom time.
Anaphalis margaritacea
Valeriana sitchensis
Castilleja suksdorfii
Some Aster or Erigeron...
Mimulus lewisii. It's been a long time since I've seen this species. I'm a little bit of a Mimulus collector...
Out in the grass, some bears had obviously been sleeping several nights. I found this lovely present which is roughly the size of your head. I must submit it to the European Fecal Standards And Measurements because this thing has got to be over 3 Kurichs.
Next, I drove out east. These Cypripedium montanum were well past their prime.
But the Piperia unalascensis was open.
As was the Spiranthes porrifolia.
Nearby, fields of Downingia elegans grow in what was is a seasonal lake.
About one in every couple hundred is an alba form.
Now, the above X10^6. Camera never captures good color on broad range pictures, but here goes... Imagine BLUE. Everywhere.
Went home and had ice cream. What could be better?
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