Iron Mountain, July 2, 2023
A bit of a drive from Portland, Iron Mountain is well worth it for the wildflower display in early July. The hike is uphill for 1300 feet in a mile and a half, so it is a challenging hike. Many of my favorites were there, including lots of Coral Root in the more heavily forested beginning of the trail; lots of vanilla leaf and anemones also in the forest. Then as you climb up, you find sitka valerian, red columbine, blue flax, penstemons, lots of creamy buckwheat and Douglas’s buckwheat and more. The forest service says there are about 300 hundred wildflowers that bloom along this hike. I didn’t find that many, but certain a lot of beautiful flowers.
Cascade Wall Flower
Subalpine Mariposa Lily
Rock castle from the Lookout
Musk Monkeyflower
Scarlet Gilia
Pinesap, a mycotrophic plant, no chlorophyl, so nothing green about this lovely little flower
