Catherine Creek, May 17, 2023

Made it back to Catherine Creek again today. I missed just about 5 weeks of hiking and wildflowers, and sadly, Catherine Creek’s camas and bi-color cluster lilies are almost gone. The main wildflower today was bitterroot. I was surprised at how many there were: I was under the (false) impression that they were a bit rare; but today proved me wrong. I have traveled the same exact trail each time I have hiked at Catherine Creek this season, so I could watch the changing of the wildflowers. I am sorry I missed so much; but I had to heal my plantar fasciitis. New for me today were tapertip onions, slender clarkia, winecup fairy fan (these last two closely related to farewell to spring), heartleaf buckwheat and Barrett’s penstemon. Indeed there were still wildflowers around, but this will probably be the last trip there till next year.

These were all in seed on the east side of the hill, but still blooming on the west slope: bi-color cluster lily

Ookow

Death camas

Barrett’s penstemon

Winecup Fairy Fan

Farewell to Spring

Slender Clarkia