McDonald Peak Wildflower Walk

Eight adventurous souls headed up dusty, pot-holed FS Road 20 to the McDonald Peak Botanical area past the Mt. Ashland ski area Friday morning as the wildfire smoke slowly moved in. Unfortunately, the star of the show — the Giant Frasera — was not blooming (drought maybe?), but we found plenty of other flowers, familiar and not, to keep us happily employed for a few hours. What is not to like about plants named “Ballhead sandwort” and “Sickletop lousewort” and Mt. Ashland’s very own unique adorable little lupine?

Afterwards we stopped by Callahan’s for refreshment, but they are not open until 3pm on Fridays — take note.

On our next wildflower walk on July 16 we will do the Mt. Ashland ski bowl, always a crowd favorite. And, since there are 5 Fridays in July, I’m adding another WW hike, on the PCT from Old Hwy 99 to Pilot Rock. Hard to believe, but just a few weeks ago we had to turn back due to cold and snow, so we’ll try it again. With luck the Washington lilies will be blooming.

Here are the list of flowers that we saw on Friday. To keep repetition down, only new flowers will appear on the report webpage. The rest you can find on our excellent Wildflower Resource page.

Table

Hike Leader: Liz

Photos By: Kay