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jared_j Member
Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 298 | TRs | Pics
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jared_j
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Sun Mar 18, 2018 2:40 pm
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I don't really have my finger on the the climate and environment of the WA state high desert. When do ya'll expect wildflowers to start popping?
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kbatku Questionable hiker
Joined: 17 Sep 2007 Posts: 3330 | TRs | Pics Location: Yaquima |
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kbatku
Questionable hiker
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Sun Mar 18, 2018 5:01 pm
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JimK Member
Joined: 07 Feb 2002 Posts: 5606 | TRs | Pics Location: Ballard |
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JimK
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Sun Mar 18, 2018 9:26 pm
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Still very early but we found some today.
buttercup yellow bells Violet
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Sculpin Member
Joined: 23 Apr 2015 Posts: 1376 | TRs | Pics
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Sculpin
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Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:09 am
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jared_j wrote: | When do ya'll expect wildflowers to start popping? |
OK, I am sort of a de facto expert on this. Peak desert (actually shrub steppe as Washington has no true desert) wildflower bloom is April 20 to May 10. That can move five days either way due to extremely warm or cold weather. There are of course earlier and later flowers but the peak season is the only time you are likely to see hillside color from a distance. First flowering en masse is Grass Widow (Sisyrinchium sp.) in the eastern Columbia Gorge in February, worth a trip to see. The lower Columbia Gorge remains the place through mid-April, when some low elevation areas farther up along the Columbia such as Babcock Bench, Whiskey Dick, and the Colockum start to heat up. Our gorgeous but rare Pediocactus can be seen mid-April in those places if you know where to look.
The peak bloom moves quickly up in elevation and then starts to peter out in mid-May most years. That being said, someone (sorry I forgot who) posted a surprising set of flower-rich images from a higher elevation area in the shrub steppe in the first week of June. That year had a very wet Spring.
One of our most spectacular and little-known wildflowers, Phemeranthus spinescens, aka the Scabland Fameflower, blooms around Memorial Day. By then it is usually baking hot in the Scablands. You can find them off the beaten path in lower Grand Coulee.
Good luck and please post what you find on the "Thread for Earliest Wildflowers"!
Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
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Kim Brown Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2009 Posts: 6900 | TRs | Pics
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Watch WTA's trip reports as well, to see what others are finding out.
"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area."
Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area."
Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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mike Member
Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 6389 | TRs | Pics Location: SJIsl |
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mike
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Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:16 pm
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We've found ourselves over there the first part of June and were very pleasantly surprised at the display. No arrow root or lupine of course but the second/third inning didn't disappoint. In fact more variety maybe...defer to Sculpin on that.
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wildernessed viewbagger
Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 9275 | TRs | Pics Location: Wenatchee |
I saw hundreds of Buttercups, quite a few Yellow Bells, and some Shooting Stars yesterday around Entiat and Chelan on both N and S slopes up to 2000’.
Living in the Anthropocene
Living in the Anthropocene
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boot up Old Not Bold Hiker
Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 4745 | TRs | Pics Location: Bend Oregon |
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boot up
Old Not Bold Hiker
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Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:37 pm
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nothing here in the High Desert yet.
Unless this counts.
Tumalo Canal Trails 3/18/18
Lots of blue sky and interesting clouds though.
Tumalo Canal Trails 3/18/18 Mtn biker enjoying the view from the top of Burma.
Smith Rock State Park, Terrebonne OR 3/12/18
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Alpine Pedestrian Member
Joined: 24 May 2007 Posts: 188 | TRs | Pics Location: Stevens Pass |
Today hiking to Mt. Tibbetts (just north of Cashmere) we saw scads of draba verna, lots of buttercups, a few bluebells and yellow bells, blue-eyed Mary, one knock-out balsam root in full bloom, what looked to be the beginnings of bitter-roots, a field of spring beauties, and some prairie stars.
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RichP Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 5628 | TRs | Pics Location: here |
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RichP
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Wed Mar 21, 2018 8:02 am
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I hiked Cowiche Mtn via the Snow Mtn Ranch TH yesterday and it's just starting to get colorful.
Wildflowers along the Wildflower Trail.
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gb Member
Joined: 01 Jul 2010 Posts: 6303 | TRs | Pics
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gb
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Wed Mar 21, 2018 8:40 am
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RichP wrote: | I hiked Cowiche Mtn via the Snow Mtn Ranch TH yesterday and it's just starting to get colorful.
Wildflowers along the Wildflower Trail. |
I would think things should be somewhat late this year because of how cold it was in February and the fact that there really have been very few warm days in March. This next week also looks quite cold for this time of year.
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SwitchbackFisher Boot buster
Joined: 24 Feb 2018 Posts: 364 | TRs | Pics Location: Wa |
I'll be moving across the plains over the Rockies and to that area in early April and anticipate I'll make it just in time for the show 😎
I may not be the smartest, I may not be the strongest, but I don't want to be. I only want to be the best I can be.
I may not be the smartest, I may not be the strongest, but I don't want to be. I only want to be the best I can be.
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RichP Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 5628 | TRs | Pics Location: here |
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RichP
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Mon Mar 26, 2018 7:48 am
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Some blooms from yesterday in Gingko Petrified Forest State Park backcountry.
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