Revisiting a Burn

This area burned in 2022 if I remember correctly. We finally regained access last year. It is a high ridge hike that was a chain of meadows interrupted by forest. Some of this had burned in the 80’s (?).

Last year we observed that the wild flowers were better than we had seen previously. This year only confirms last year’s observations. This will be interesting to watch as the years go by.

Last year the bear grass was phenomenal, this year it was sparse, but I believe it is on a 3 year cycle. The bear grass ended at the edge of the forest, so it will be interesting to see if it migrates into the formerly forested areas, before the saplings get established.

Owl clover


Nootka rose


Calchortis


Pentstemon cardwelli

I didn’t find the Pentstemon rupicola that I know is around…

Paintbrush


One, if not the largest Lilium columbianum I have ever seen

There was an incredible amount of Tiger lilies in certain areas, but hard to photograph the whole scene.

One of the main things we came looking for the Washington Lily named after Martha. We were not disappointed





It was 46 degrees and showered on and off our whole hike. Perfect weather for @Stonedfish, 20 degrees cooler than home less than 70 miles away!

 

[Mossback]

Nice Lillies....impressive specimens both.

 

[Cabezon]

Very atmospheric with the fog/rain. Beauty rising from desolation.
Steve

 

[SculpinSwinger]

Nice Lillies....impressive specimens both.

I take that as a real compliment coming from you. There were so many spectacular specimens, and some areas well covered. So hard to get a good cell phone pic of the big picture.

 

[Mossback]

That's way cool...

The columbianum was bigger than any I've seen for sure, looks like a place for pics yearly

What s the elevation there?

 

[SculpinSwinger]

That's way cool...

The columbianum was bigger than any I've seen for sure, looks like a place for pics yearly

What s the elevation there?

4600-5000’

I probably don’t make it back this year, the last few miles of road were “pumped” by heavy equipment.

I will be back next year for sure.

 

[Alchemist]

That tiger lily is huge! Beats ~95% of internet fish pics. Thanks.

 

[SteelHeadDave]

Very nice, thank you for sharing! It’s always cool to see how a burn bounces back, if allowed to remain undisturbed. Washington lilies are amazing. After seeing my first ones in bloom (central Oregon) I tracked down a native seed company and purchased a bag of seed. They will spend the winter in the fridge for cold stratification before planting out. Keeping my expectations low but worth a try.

 

[SculpinSwinger]

Very nice, thank you for sharing! It’s always cool to see how a burn bounces back, if allowed to remain undisturbed. Washington lilies are amazing. After seeing my first ones in bloom (central Oregon) I tracked down a native seed company and purchased a bag of seed. They will spend the winter in the fridge for cold stratification before planting out. Keeping my expectations low but worth a try.

It was really nice to see many empty seed pods from the last 2 seasons, it seems that they have a good chance of propagating.
The Washington Lily is one of the best smelling blooms that I have put my nose to.
Good luck in your try at propagating the seeds you have. I saw my first low elevation (500’) specimens this year.

 

[SculpinSwinger]

We went to the higher end of the ridge today, not as many Washington Lilies, and we only saw Tiger Lilies on the drive up. At least 30 degrees warmer than last week.

The trailhead

The trail
I love trails that require route finding, so this did me some good. We lost the trail a couple times heading out and coming back, but we were not to concerned as we knew which direction we needed to go and figured we would find it again if we went forward rather than backtracking to were we lost it.

I remove flagging tape and dismantle cairns most places I go. Today I left a few pieces of tape up, and actually tied one back up that was on the ground. Usually I figure if you can’t find the trail you shouldn’t be out there in the first place.

Unlike last week we got some great views this week.








Snow pack looks like late August

We saw a good variety of wildflowers, tons of butterflies, a few hummingbirds,a pair of hairy woodpeckers, and heard a bunch of Lazuli Buntings - my lady saw one male, I spotted a female.













With a little history

 

[SculpinSwinger]

This shows where we started, and the ground covered last week


A couple more random shots

 

[SculpinSwinger]

From my lady