[Larry]

I have a chance to sneak away on Saturday night, and would like to get over to the best flowers for Sunday. Would this be a good choice, or are there other good possibilities? Sorry, I'm a bit ignorant about eastern Washington. Manastash Ridge maybe? Any quick suggestions would be great. You don't have to give me a bunch of details. Just a suggestion, and I'll take it from there. Thanks much anyone!

[Alan Bauer]

Places I feel where flowers would be prime right now: Cowiche Canyon Conservancy (west of Yakima) Ginko Petrified Forest State park lands Frenchman Coulee Steamboat Rock State park (I was hiking up the rock last May 9th and it was AMAZING then) If you want a 4 hours drive to one of the most diverse flower shows I've ever seen, go to Kamiak Butte County Park east of Colfax. On Monday this week I was counting flowers left and right---the north slope is forested and has flowers more like the west Cascades, while the top and South/Western slopes are open pine forest and has more desert-type flowers, so in one 3.5 mile hike you bet BOTH ecosystems of flowers. Just a quick sampling from Monday: Calypso orchids (couldn't believe my eyes to find them over there) Trillium Fairy bells Glacier lily some type of 'snowdrops' type of white beauty serviceberry trees all over the place paintbrush (2-3 species) lupines (2-3 species) desert shooting star balsamroot desert parsley (2 species) prairie star-flower desert bluebells larkspur (2 species) yellow bells grass widow sagebrush buttercups It has been a VERY cool and damp spring in the SE corner of the state, and thus many species that are long done in the Columbia Basin are just now starting to bloom there. Maybe I should have posted this in trip reports instead. But I don't have the time to enter in the details of all 14 places I hit last weekend when in the SE corner for 4 days.

[MtnGoat]

It's been a cool spring, I was at Saddle Mtn two weeks ago and it still wasn't in full bloom. I'd say you have a good shot.

[Larry]

I should NEVER have asked. I simply can't stand it. I'm off to Kamiak tomorrow. I'm in Port Orchard tonight, but will be in Bellevue ready to head east about 6pm tomorrow. Should put me there about 10:30pm or so to get some sleep and up with the Sunday morning sun. I've got a fresh 24-pack of 120 roll film (Velvia), and a 12-pack of Provia. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR THE TIPS. Heading for the Quinault Valley and the Queets Valley for 8 days next Friday. Life is getting supremely good again!

[Alan Bauer]

Bravo for you Larry! It is a good thing that the Pine Ridge Loop trail around the top of the butte is only a 3.5 mile hike so you can photo all day at the pace of a sleeping sloth, and still have a chance of making it back to the car by dark! Don't forget to hit Colfax with some film too...if you are like me and like to photograph historic buildings as well---and Palouse...and Pomeroy...Dayton...Asotin...ahhh, man those are historic fun towns!

[Alan Bauer]

Larry--forgot to say that for an enjoyable drive there be sure to turn off I-90 at Vantage and take Hwy 26 all the way to Colfax...should you be leaving by 6pm you should hit the heart of the sunset as you are passing the Royal City area/Othello areas....ahhhh, a nice place to watch the colors change the landscape while driving along with the sun to your back.

[Larry]

[marta]

Hayward Road was very nice yesterday. The blue camas is in an awesome display in the area. You may want to take a quick detour here on the way. You can see Camassia quamash along the road ditches right after you exit on Elk Hts. There's patches all along the way to Hayward Road. At the culvert on Hayward Road described in Larry's March Report, you can find more patches along with big-headed clover, Trifolium macrocephalum. There are two types of Balsamroot in bloom (hooker's and arrow-leaved) and the lupine is just starting up. Shooting star is finished and seeded. There are some interesting buckwheats starting to bloom. We really liked the thyme leaved buckwheat. Also lots of Brodiaea. - marta

[Alan Bauer]

While hiking is of utmost importance in my life, I usually am about as relaxed and enjoying "life as GOOD" when I'm combining driving, looking, seeing, walking a ditch, hiking a mountain, and photograhy either behind the camera or even just in my mind...road-trip photo trips are as good as it gets, end of story for me!! Time stands still...last weekends 4-day trip was just that: a timeless adventure. And even though it rained a ton, I had my dog with me to care for too, life was so special, and coming home all the noises and concerns in the family life seemed so much less of a problem! Plus, traveling and hiking with 6 legs is often better than just my own 2--the poochie was a wonderful companion for 1344 miles of driving!

[Alan Bauer]

Smell the roses: Larry, forgot to mention that you'll get to do that as well---some nice clumps of wild rose blooming too (it might have been near Lyons Ferry where I saw that though...so if you don't find it don't blame me...I lose track of what was where when visiting 14 places in 3.5 days! Well, until I finally transpose my notes into my journal this weekend, then I'll remember!)

[MCaver]

[Larry]

Marta wrote: "Hayward Road was very nice yesterday." Marta: I already planned to cruise through Hayward on my way. Marta wrote: "We really liked the thyme leaved buckwheat." Marta: One of my favorites. A classy buckwheat. Alan wrote: "Some nice clumps of wild rose blooming." Alan: Even if I don't find some, I can smell it now. MCaver wrote: "I did 1742 miles between Thursday 4pm and Monday 4pm on my trip to the Painted Hills last weekend." MCaver: Uh oh...another one of those crazies who drive to look at scenery. Okay, I'd better get back to my chores. This is killing me. I need to forget about the "draw" of listening to you people on this forum and discipline myself. I'll reap the rewards soon enough. Thanks Marta, Alan, MCaver. This is a sort of preamble to the crux of the hiking season that runs through mid-November. Ah, the soothing persona of eastern Washington...

[Alan Bauer]

OK MCaver, you win "THIS" time! Just wait until I do my long planned trip to SE Oregon...Steens Mountain, Alvord Desert, Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge....man, you'll just see the odometer smokin' around and around! I'll be sure to invite you on that one since you'd be good at helping me burn miles day after day, 6am-9pm. At this point it'll be either a fall trip or next spring. Alvord Desert in July != prime time.....

[MtnGoat]

Went out yesterday (Sat) with a buddy for a prowl out east and wound up on top of Whiskey Dick Mtn which was pretty sweet. I'm not a flower guy species wise, but I like lookin' and all I can say is there were a heck of a lot of teensy purple flowers in patches all over the place up there, in some places it looked like it had snowed purple. Also saw some barrel cactus in bloom, that one really blew my mind, the outer part of the flower is vivid scarlet while the inner section is wild screaming yellow. The contrast nearly burns holes in your eyes. Farther along the ridge we saw something else way cool that I'm sure may irritate someone or another but we thought was way, way cool.. free ranged horses. As we passed through the gate a couple started moving, then a few more, and at one point there were 10 or 15 in a healthy trot parallel to us a short distance away, manes and tails streaming in the wind, skylined against a blue spring sky with snowy mountains in the distance, and I kid you not Springsteens "the Rising" was playing on 102.1 (the Quake!). What an awesome scene. Dave says "I feel like I'm in a Chevy commercial"!

[MCaver]

Sounds like a good trip. Where exactly is Whiskey Dick? I've seen the name in several different threads -- it's quite noteworthy.