[mbravenboer]

We have another guest in town this week, and of course we went out for a nice hike to show the beauty of our state! This time we went to the Green Mountain Lookout, a repeat from November ( https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8013807 ). The trail is entirely snow-free. The flowers are already out in large numbers, much more than I expected compared to my recent other hikes. In the meadows there are a huge number of Tiger Lillies, Red Columbine, Paintbrush, and at higher elevation still some Pasque Flowers and Glacier Lilies. Quite a flower show overall. Unfortunately I didn't have my good camera, so the mountains view photos are not that great. The clouds and light were quite spectacular actually with the incoming rain. All photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/sets/72157654370328789 Flower overload:

Tiger Lily

Tiger Lily with a nice butterly

Paintbrush

Red Columbine

Tiger Lily

Tiger Lily caught in the act of opening up

Tiger Lily

Tiger Lily

Butterfly on a finished Pasque Flower

White Indian Paintbrush

Pasque Flower

Glacier Lily

Beautiful alpine flowers close to the lookout

Meadows:

Entering the meadows

Ascending through lush meadows

View from the meadows on the Suiattle River valley

Traversing the meadows. Note the abundance of Tiger Lillies

Meadows in the evening sun

Marmot among Pasque Flowers

Tarn area snow-free:

Tarn, with Green Mountain in the background

Tarn at about 5250ft

Mountain views:

Glacier Peak

View on Glacier Peak and the Suiattle valley

View on Glacier Peak and the Suiattle valley

Downey Creek drainage

View on Mt. Baker from the lookout

Mt. Baker

iPhone panos:

North Cascades panorama from Green Mountain Lookout

Panorama of Green Mountain and the North Cascades

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[mbravenboer]

Yes, definitely seeding. Only higher on the ridge to the lookout they were still in bloom. I was surprised as well based on my recent hikes (Johnson Ridge and Mt Fremont), where the flowers were not nearly this far yet. Sir-Hikes-a-Lot also just posted a report with flowers progressed quite a bit on the Red Pass ( http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report.2015-06-19.3128949594 ).

[olderthanIusedtobe]

That's a pretty burly day hike from the WTA link you posted.

[iron]