After one of my last hikes of last summer into the Patrick’s Knob Roadless area on the top part os USFS trail 205 and the east end of USFS trail 404 I put these photos into a pending file and forgot them. It might be interesting to note that these plants are presently resting under about eight feet of snow.
Sometimes it’s nice to begin a hike with a pleasant scene.
USFS trail 223 starts along the river at an elevation of about 2,400 feet, climbs up and over a small hill then proceeds up the river for another 7 or 8 miles. In their seasons, wildflowers along it are diverse and plentiful. Those included in this post are the late-season ones.
Evening Primrose (Oenothera villosa): the first one I had seen this year.
These bluebells are everywhere this time of year and I can seldom pass up a chance to photograph them.
As the trail enters the lower and most dense part of the forest, the color is intense.
The shade-loving Three-leaf Foamflower ~ Tiarella trifoliata
The berries of the Devil’s Club (Oplopanax horridus) are just beginning to turn red.
I did mention that I love these bluebells, didn’t I?
Slender Hawkweed ~ Hieracium triste
The seed head of the Blue Clematis, (Clematis occidentalis)
I love the steeper parts of this trail: there is a small stream below.
Another flower which grows at just about all elevations, Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea).
These are the fruit of the Clasping Twisted-stalk (Streptopus amplexifolius) which is a plant that I have seen in only two locations. It is interesting because the flowers and fruit appear on the underside of the leaves.
For a short time I thought about posting photos of all of the wildflowers I encountered on the trail to Pear Lake, but upon counting them and finding that there were 35 different species, I decided instead to just post two sets, leaving out many whose photos I have posted before including Glacier Lilies and Springbeauties which bloomed at the lower elevations months ago but are now in full bloom among the snowbanks that remain on the high ridge just before the trail drops down to Pear Lake.
Harebells, Bluebells of Scotland, Campanula rotundifolia
Clustered Thistle, Cirsium brevistylum
Poison Hemlock, Conium maculatum
Pearly Everlasting, Anaphalis margaritacea
Pipsissewa, Prince’s Pine, Chimaphila umbellata
Ocean Spray, Holodiscus discolor (These are blossoming shrubs and their large clusters of blooms decorate many hillsides this time of summer)
Even in the smoke that now fills our skies, wildflowers and other plants in the high places seem unaffected. Here are a few photos of them from the top of Mount Baldy.
Yesterday I found these still blooming in the high country about 5 miles southwest of Big Hole lookout, compressing their lives into the short summer season up there.
