Every summer I see thousands of these blossoms

Goatsbeard, tragopogon dubius

and roughly an equal number of their seed heads,

but I guess I haven’t been paying very close attention though because this morning was the first time I saw both on one stalk.

No other plant resembles Beargrass, Xerophyllum tenax, but to me its appeal is much more than its uniqueness, its size (up to five feet tall) or its beautiful blossoms, but in where it grows, mostly on open ridge tops in the higher elevations of the northwest. For more than sixty summers I’ve felt a thrill, seeing it bloom in the high country of western Montana.

This sentinel is stationed overlooking Siegel Creek Divide and looks down over the Siegel Creek canyon and the Clark Fork River 10 miles away to the north and twenty miles of Nine Mile Creek to the south.

This year has not been a good one for beargrass in this immediate area and so I decided to post a few photos of it now and hope to be fortunate enough to encounter a more lavish display as I visit more high country in the next few weeks.

That I photographed, anyway. (Unless I missed some in the 386 photos I took during the month.)

There seems to be a disagreement between one of my favorite wildflower sites from British Columbia which calls the next flower “False Solomon’s Seal” and the USDA Plants site which calls it “Feathery False Wild Lily of the Valley”. (I’ll stay out of that dispute, but whatever they’re called, these were the prettiest of that species that I’ve seen!)

False Solomon’s Seal, or, False Wild Lily of the Valley, maianthemum racemosum

This group photo also includes a stalk of Western Groundsel,

whose seed head looks like this.

And the Western Mountain Aster, Symphyotrichum spathulatum.

Mock Orange, or more properly, “Lewis’ Mockorange” is now brightening up the hillsides in western Montana. From many, many years ago I clearly remember my Mother’s joy at seeing these beautiful blossoms in early summer.

Lewis’ Mockorange, philadelphus lewisii

Mockorange in USDA NRS Plant Guide

This will be the last post in this series: after all, how much can be said about a three mile trail?

The Clark Fork of the Columbia River flows in a northwesterly direction for about three hundred miles from its source in the Deerlodge National Forest at the Continental Divide near the town of Butte Montana then takes a sharp turn to the right and and flows for twenty one miles due east before it again turns toward the northwest. This short east - west section is referred to as the “Cutoff”, probably because it’s a shortcut from the Bitterroot Mountains on the west, through the Coeur d’Alene Mountains to the Cabinet Mountains on the east, and there is a road which follows the river, Montana Highway 135.

As you travel downstream through the Cutoff you travel through a deep canyon where, to the right is the high ground of the South Siegel - South Cutoff roadless area (13,473 acres) and the North Siegel roadless area (9,208 acres). To the left is the Patrick’s Knob - North Cutoff roadless area (16,969 acres). About half way through is the trail head for USFS trail 205 which runs almost due north for (the Forest Service says) three miles through the Patrick’s Knob area at one of it’s narrowest points, from the river at an elevation of about 2,500 feet to the high ridge at about 5,000 feet just west of Patrick’s Knob Peak . (After hiking the trail myself, I came to believe that the person who declared it to be three miles has never even seen the trail, much less hiked it.)

The following photos will, I hope, give the viewer a little of the flavor of this particular trail and the beauty of the roadless area it traverses and a glimpse of what it’s like to hike through true wild country. It is only one of many such trails in many roadless areas, all of which need our protection if they are to continue to exist.

The trailhead at Montana Highway 135

An early part of the trail, perhaps a half mile from the trailhead.

From about a mile up the trail facing east along the Cutoff with the North Siegel roadless area in the background,

and from the same spot, facing south with the South Siegel - South Cutoff roadless area in the background.

A section of the trail itself about three fourths of the way to the top (It’s a good idea to pay attention to the blaze marks through here),

and, from about the same place, a view back down to the Clark Fork and Highway 135.

At the top edge of the roadless area and the top end of the trail is, what else, a road. In this case it’s called The High Ridge Road and also the eastern trailhead of the CC Divide Trail, USFS trail 404.

From the high Ridge Road facing north, Baldy Mountain in the Baldy Mountain roadless area can be easily seen ten miles beyond the small town of Plains, Montana along the Clark Fork which at that point is again headed northwest.

The previous photos were taken on the ascent. I also took a few on the hike back down.

A quarter of a mile behind this rather obscure trail marker at the top end of the trail (with my pack hanging on it)

is this trail sign, the only one to be found on the entire trail.

A mile or so from the top, where the trail takes a slight jog to the west is a nice view of the Bitterroot Mountains about thirty miles to the west,

and in a place where the only relatively level part of the trail occurs is a nice section of open forest which I’ll bet is a favorite feeding area for the local ungulates (deer, elk, moose and Bighorn sheep).

Half way back down is this pretty view of the Cutoff and North Siegel beyond it,

and the trailhead at the bottom, after seven hours on this six(?) mile hike is a welcome sight.

A few evenings ago these little aircraft showed up near our back door, drawn by the fluorescent light from a bug zapper. Fortunately, they were too large to fit between the shield bars but stayed around long enough for a photo.

On a wood cutting trip into the high country on the same day, this Bear Grass blossom just had to be photographed with its tiny resident, a yellow Crab Spider.

We share this world with some interesting little neighbors!

If I were the one to name this flower, that’s the name I’d choose. So far I’ve looked everywhere I can think of and can’t come up with in ID for it.

(Photographed along the lower end of the Munson Creek trail in the Cabinet Mountains of western Montana, inside the TeePee - Spring Creek roadless area.)

Vetch. Somehow it seems unjust for a very pretty flower to have such a name. I greatly prefer calling it “Wild Pea”. Oh, well… it doesn’t seem to mind.

American vetch, vicia americana

The blossoms

A stalk of blossoms

A hillside of WIld peas (with the Coeur d’Alene mountains as a backdrop).

Wild rose bud

Wild rose blossom - mature

Red Clover

Wild rose blossom - early stage

(Photographed along the Spring Creek trail in the Cabinet Mountains of western Montana.)

Here are some of the flowers growing along the upper part of trail 205 ( 3,500 ft to 5,000 ft).

Red clover

Miner’s lettuce, claytonia perfoliata

Tolmie star-tulip

Tolmie star-tulips

A hillside of Blue-eyed Marys

A ridgetop covered with Arrowleaf Balsamroot

Very colorful Tolmies

Yellow Indian Paintbrush

Lupine