Wildflowers – March 22-31

We traveled to the Gorge twice during late March in search of emerging wildflowers.

Trip One- March 22

We stayed in the west end of the Gorge, parking first at the Eagle Creek parking area and then worked our way back west to Latourell Falls. Spring had a tenuous hold on the Gorge. It had snowed down to the 1,000 foot level the night before. And that day a spring storm brought hail, rain and a rare thunderstorm.

But our reward for coming out was a view of the cliffs painted in white highlights by the snow.  It was nature’s contour map of the hills.  

Columbia Gorge cliffs behind Ainsworth State Park

Our mission was to find and photograph wildflowers and the day didn’t lend itself well to that. Our one find of the day was “Columbia Kittentails”, which we found along the Historic Columbia River Highway near Horsetail Falls.

Columbia Kittentails (Synthyris stellata) J-567.

This species is found only in the Columbia Gorge, so is called an endemic.  It grows on shaded cliffs in the west side of the Cascades. They were a pleasant sight in the middle of the storm.  We also saw Trillium and Oxalis blooming for the first time, but it was not a good day to take pictures.

We also wanted to look for Skunk Cabbage (see March 28 blog about Tryon Creek Natural Area.)  We find it where Russ Jolley says we will, at the Eagle Creek Forest Camp (photograph below) and at the base of Latourell Falls.

Western Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanus) J-7 .

Trip Two- March 26

The following Tuesday was much more Spring-like with a hazy sun. This time we went back to the eastern gorge and the Rowena Loops on the Historic Columbia Highway (see Google Map in the March 18 blog). 

The yellow Glacier lilies were popping out all along this stretch of road, along with the Oaks Toothwort --both of which had been blooming on our last trip here.  We were in search of Chocolate Lilies. We did not see any in bloom but,as the picture below shows, it won’t be long.

Chocolate Lily in bud (Fritlllaria lanceolata) J-27

To our delight,  Shooting Stars had popped up with their brilliant simple elegance.

Shooting Star (Dodecatheon poeticum) J-434

We then crossed over to Washington on The Dalles Bridge and stopped at 8-Mile Creek in the Columbia Hills State Park. Balsamroot, a Gorge version of a sunflower, was beginning to appear. It is one of the iconic flowers of the Columbia Gorge.  A composite flower, it has great symmetry at many different levels. Here are pictures of a small bouquet, a close-up of a bud, as well as an individual immature flower.

Arrow-leaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza deltoidea) J-724

We also saw Ballhead Waterleaf and Rigid Fiddleneck flowering.

We finished off our day by going back to Catherine Creek again.  We were searching for Dutchman’s Britches, a relative of the Bleeding Heart.  We found some immature ones with a pink blush to them.  The mature flower is white, and is so named because it looks like a laundry pole with little billowing britches on it.

Dutchaman's Britches, (Dicentra cucullaria) J-161

Nearby were some “Blue-eyed Mary”--these flowers very tiny, only about a quarter inch in diameter, more pink than blue.  They may be the "Few-flowered Blue-Eyed Mary.".

Blue-eyed Mary

We also saw the Death Camus beginning to bloom.  In several places Gold Stars were putting on a final burst of explosive growth, covering the hillside.

Gold Stars at Catherine Creek

Ah, spring!

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