A few photos from my second trip to the Labyrinth in two weeks (I'd taken an old friend up there on March 8 but didn't want to slow him down with hundreds of photos...) The Grass Widows are peaking, but the rest of the flower show is just getting into high gear -- and, notably, the poison oak hasn't leafed out yet! Thus, my favorite time to hike in the area.
Labyrinth Creek flowing through it's many waterfalls and mini-gorge:
"Washington Highway Department Falls" along the first stretch of the trail along an abandoned section of the old highway -- this is a man-made feature, but a nice once as these go:
Grass Widow -- plentiful and everywhere on this trail:
Saxifrage tucked into a rock outcrop:
Prairie Star:
Yellow Bells -- not as many of these as you'll find at nearby Catherine Creek:
Mount Hood was out and shining in the morning sun:
Big oaks near the crest that was my destination on this hike:
Lots of hikers with families up there -- everyone in good spirits, too. Trails bring out the best in people!
Tom
Labyrinth Trail (March 16)
- Splintercat
- Posts: 8334
- Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
- Location: Portland
- Contact:
Re: Labyrinth Trail (March 16)
Yeah, the grass widows are as intense as I have seen them in that area. I think the January freeze and the slow recovery held up their sometimes early arrival, so now they are catching up.
-
- Posts: 57
- Joined: May 10th, 2019, 6:45 am
Re: Labyrinth Trail (March 16)
Was on the Coyote Wall half today -- Grass widows are probably half gone now. Lots of stems without blooms compared to the last couple weeks. Desert Parsley in full bloom and aromatic as usual. (I actually like the smell -- it's a "spring is here" smell to me).
Biggest surprise of the day, saw several balsamroot blooming already. Quite a few below the old highway, but probably 15-25 on the higher half of Coyote wall. That feels early to me as I don't have any pictures in previous years until mid April. That, could just mean this will be a more normal year timewise for flowers as it felt like the previous two years were slow/behind.
Lupine is growing but didn't see any blooms yet. Probably a couple weeks away.
Biggest surprise of the day, saw several balsamroot blooming already. Quite a few below the old highway, but probably 15-25 on the higher half of Coyote wall. That feels early to me as I don't have any pictures in previous years until mid April. That, could just mean this will be a more normal year timewise for flowers as it felt like the previous two years were slow/behind.
Lupine is growing but didn't see any blooms yet. Probably a couple weeks away.
Re: Labyrinth Trail (March 16)
I did the Labyrinth/Coyote Wall trail yesterday. Balsam root is in bloom at the lower elevations. The first waterfall above the old highway has a nice patch just above it. Desert parsley was in bloom throughout. Unfortunately, we could see the poison oak leafing out in places too.