Snail Spirals

My sister and her boyfriend were here last week, and we had such fun! (Hence the lack of posting all last week.) One of the things we did was go camping, the first time I’ve been camping in several years, and Emma’s first time ever. It was a huge success, and I think we’ll be going more this summer and fall.

We left Thursday morning, and drove over the Cascades on Rt. 20, toward Winthrop. This is the same route Shaun and Emma and I took last October to look at the leaves, and it was just as beautiful this time.



We drove to Winthrop again, to admire the mountains and have lunch and get dinner fixings, then went back a little ways along Rt. 20 to the Lone Fir campground in the Okanogan National Forest. It was so beautiful!!! We camped alongside a lovely stream, Early Winters Creek, which was sparkly and clear and noisy and cold.



Before dinner, we went hiking on a trail that left from the campground, which was quite convenient. It went in a loop along Early Winters Creek, crossing several tributaries and the main stream along the way. Such a pretty area! The trail was only about two miles long, and the first part is paved for wheelchair access, so it was a nice walk.

Emma thought the tent was super fun, and spent quite a while that evening (after she was supposed to be in bed) walking around and around inside, singing to herself and rearranging the sleeping bags.



Unfortunately, this also continued after Shaun and I went to bed. Luckily, after it got really dark, around 10:30 or so, she settled down.

Emma and I were up bright and early at 6:00 the next morning, and took ourselves on a bird and flower walk around the campground so the rest could sleep some more. It’s so much easier to get up early when you’re camping and there are lots of things to look at! I got a great close up look at a McGillivray’s warbler and some evening grosbeaks, and heard three kinds of thrushes, several sparrow species, chickadees, goldfinches, ravens, etc.

There were some gorgeous wildflowers out, too, most of which I had never seen before! Woot! The Life List expands!

Most spectacular, and spotted from the moving car as well as in the campground, were the lilies and lupines.


Columbia tiger lily (Lilium columbiana).

Not quite as big as hybrid garden lilies, but just as orange and more beautiful because they’re wild.


Broadleaf lupine (Lupinus latifolius)

There were lots of other flowers scattered all over the campground:


Crimson columbine (Aquilegia formosa)


Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)


Queen cup (Clintonia uniflora)

And an orchid!


Slender bog orchid (Platanthera stricta)

This was growing near the stream, in a small boggy depression. A good-sized population; I saw at least a dozen plants in about 50 square feet of that particular boggy spot.

The next day we headed home, stopping along the way a couple times. The first time was to hike the Blue Lake Trail, but we couldn’t because after about a hundred yards, it was snowed in! I did get to see some marsh marigolds in a streambed where the snow had already melted.


Marsh marigold (Caltha leptosepala)

Emma enjoyed playing in the snow and throwing snowballs at Daddy for a while, and then we moved on in search of a trail that was open.

We ended up at the Thunder Creek Nature Hike, which is a shortish loop hike (though it has some steep sections!) in the woods upstream of the Colonial Creek Campground. There’s also the main Thunder Creek Trail that goes along the river, and we did a bit of this trail, intending to turn around when we got to the bridge over Thunder Creek, but we never did find the bridge. Either the map distances were a bit misleading and we didn’t go far enough or we missed the turnoff.

I did, however, get to see lots more wildflowers, including


Bog wintergreen (Pyrola asarifolia)

And another new orchid!


Western coralroot (Corallorhiza mertensiana)

These are much more pink and white than any of my books show, with no brown or yellow tones. I feel pretty confident, though, that this is the correct identification, and the University of Washington Herbarium website has some pictures that look almost this pink.

Such a fun trip!