[marta]

Back around 2004, Hubby and I started making an annual pilgrimage to the Taneum area to view the camas and other wildflower fields. Usually we would go mid-May and if it weather wasn't too hot we would find some stunning fields of blue. We had a sekret way in. Two years ago, we found our sekret way blocked by moguls of dirt and downed trees. Our sekret way was a couple of old jeep roads that Fish and Game decided to totally block and keep the ATVs out. Good thing but it was a pain to get through. We gave up on the trail. But we still wanted to find the fields. A friend got a Green Dot Map and did a bit of exploring. He said he could get his Subaru up to Tamarack Springs Campground. Hmm... looking at the map, we realized that we could probably walk in a couple of miles on the green dot roads and find our fields. We could also give the roads a try in the Subaru. We decided to go on Monday (6/14). The weather was gorgeous but extremely windy. This area has been cooler than normal and most of the flowers that we normally see in May were just starting to bloom. We started the exploring by going up the Tamarack Ridge Road. We entered off of Joe Watt Road and took the middle fork. The road was rough but level. It climbed up through the Ponderosa Pine to a stunning vista across Thorp to the Stewart Range. To the east was Ellensburg. We climbed through Lupine fields up to the ridge tops with their rocky soil. Wonderful small rock gardens of buckwheat, penstemon, balsamroot, bitteroot and desert parsley. We came to a pretty big puddle and we decided not to risk the Subby so we went back and then up Taneum Road 33 to just beyond IceWater Campgound where we turned south on 3330 toward Buck Meadows. The Larch and Aspens were leafing out. They were both a gorgeous shade of chartreuse. Along the way we met a grader who was laying new gravel. The road is in excellent condition and we met no one other than the grader. We turned off at 3120 and headed to Tamarack Spring. The campground is closed. We were thinking about heading in on Hutchins Road but it looked a little rough so we parked. There is a really interesting grave just past Tamarack Spring. It is fenced in and maintained by a local snowmobile club. The gravestone says "White Woman's Grave". I was able to find an article on it from the Ellensburg newspaper from 1973. It was a woman who died in 1870 when she fell from her horse. We walked for about two miles and we started seeing camas in the fields. It was in prime bloom along with delphenium, big head clover. In a couple of weeks, the penstemon should be blooming. It was getting late and we still had the drive back to Seattle so we decided to call it a day. We did not find the fields we used to visit but we were really close. We know we can find them again next year. Monday was a great day to explore the area. There were few people in the campgrounds and even fewer on the road. I'm not certain what it is like on a weekend but if you can go during the week early in the season - you can find a botanical wonderland.

Tamarack Ridge Road - Taneum

Tamarack Ridge Road - Taneum

Lupine along Tamarack Ridge Road - Taneum

Erigeron linearis

Penstemon pruinosus

Vista from Tamarack Ridge Road - Taneum

Tamarack Ridge Road - Taneum

Lomatium nudicaule - Taneum

Wildflower garden - Taneum

Tamarack Ridge Road - Taneum

Vista from Tamarack Ridge Road - Taneum

Eriogonum thymoides

Bitteroot - Tamarack Ridge Road - Taneum

Wildflower gardens on Tamarack Ridge Road - Taneum

Castilleja thompsonii

Aspens at Gooseberry Flat - Taneum

White Woman's Grave - Tamarack Springs - Taneum

White Woman's Grave - Tamarack Springs - Taneum

Snowmobile marker near Tamarack Springs - Taneum

Trifolium macrocephalum - Big head clover

Blue Camas - Camassia quamash

Hesperochiron pumilus

Wildflower Garden Taneum

Camas field Taneum

[canyonwren]

Wow, that grave story was interesting and sad. A tiny piece of pioneer history, there. Love the pics, too.

[Larry]

Great report Marta! I too, lament the loss of the "secret way" in, with all the dirt berms and trees that they used to block the access. The usual wonderful flowers, and beautiful images too. Would be neat to get to the "old" fields, as they were truly spectacular, weren't they? Larry

[Dave Workman]

I'm familiar with that grave (I always stop there when up in that country), and there seems to be one really oddball discrepancy in this story. If you read the clipping, the wife and baby reportedly were killed in 1870. Later in the story, this was after the deaths, it says Mr. Williams went to the west side and operated a ferry but in 1867 he sold the ferry and moved back to California. The dates simply do not match up. Either a typo, or somebody got kind of creative with history. Great photos from the Taneum road. I really like that country. It is simply phenomenal.

[marta]

Larry - great to hear from you. Not only have they bermed up and downed trees along the way - this year the plan is to take the bridge at the start out. The bridge is going out for stream restoration. I'm certain the old fields will be easy to find from Tamarack Springs next time we go. Just needed a bit more time in the day. With this weather - it may still be worth another trip this year. Dave - I caught that inconsistency also. The 1973 article was pretty poorly written. There is another article on the grave in November 1996 issue of Mountains to Sound Greenway on page 6. It gives a bit more about where they were coming from, the route they were taking, etc. but nothing about the ferry, etc. I've also seen the husband's name as Al or Charles. There is also an letter by the MTS Greenway author in the Ellensburg newspaper explaining the headstone.