Mountain Flowers

 

                                                   Sitka Valerian and Rosy Spirea

Of course flowers would be a focus of our trip to Mt Rainier. Timing the meadow blooming is uncertain but you can be assured that something will be blooming as the snow melts in June and lasts into August. So yes, there were flowers. 

                                                                Rosy Paintbrush

                                                            Alpine Aster

                                                                  Shootingstar

                                                              Pink Mountain Heather

                                                                      Snow Buttercup

Avalanche Lily

Both white Avalanche lilies and yellow Glacier lilies bloom in wide open areas following the snow melt. They are just finishing and we didn't get up to their large open meadows, but there were smaller patches of the Avalanche lilies here and there.

Pasqueflower or Western Anemone "mophead", the long lasting seedhead of the early snow-chasing white flower, usually poking up out of the melting snow.

                                                                Western Groundsel

                                                        Partridgefoot

                                                                Subalpine Lupine

It was too early for the large fields of Lupine but a few were blooming here and there. 

                                                                            Spirea

                                                                          Fireweed

                                                            Cascade Moutain Ash

                                                        Birdsbeak Lousewort

                    Paintbrush, Spirea, and Mountain Bistort

                            Beargrass, Indian Basket Grass

                    Groundsel with Huckleberry foliage

                        Alpine Speedwell / Veronica

                Mountain Daisy with Bistort, Valerian, and Spirea

And with the flora, a bit of Fauna. Jill saw these as they were heading out for their mountain climbing. 

We looked for the Marmots that inhabit the rocks at Myrtle Falls, but I guess they were napping. Early birds get the prize. 

Going back through these pictures has been a treat for me. Many of them were taken by Tom.

While I know the names of most of these flowers, I have a handy little book that lets me know if I got it right. Published by The Mountainiers in 1979, I bought it many years ago on another trip to this wonderful place, My Mountain.