This afternoon we meandered Cowiche Canyon with our niece from Ohio starting at the Weikel Road TH and hiking a little beyond the 7th bridge before returning to the TH. We saw a few death camas, larkspur, balsamroot on the hills, serviceberry, a few thyme-leaf buckwheat and Columbia desert parsley which was mostly past its prime.

I parked at the East trailhead and hiked west along the river. Turned South onto the East Uplands trail and climbed up until I had a fantastic view down to the canyon. Next time I will go North and bring a friend to do some wine-tasking with me. Lots of wildflowers. I love it when the balsam root is so prolific. I went a little over a mile and a half out, making it a 3.2 mile round trip. Perfect weather.

I took an afternoon walk yesterday on the Cowiche Canyon Uplands from Summitview and today at Rocky Top.  Yesterday I walked Radio Flyer to the Lone Pine Trail, up that trail to the Jeep Rd, & then the south leg of the Summitview South Loop.  I saw a nice patch of Gray's Desert Parsley and some Big Headed Clover in bloom along with lots of violets and the little Rock Onion (Allium macrum).  Overall, though, the flowers were a little disappointing compared to a couple of weeks ago.  Most of the Grass Widows, Yellow Bells, & Canby's Desert Parsleys were past.

Today I went up to Rocky Top and walked up Walk & Roll and down Green Harvester.  The wildflowers were much better here.  The violets, Cushion or Hood's Phlox, Rock Onion, and Large-fruited Desert Parsley (Lomatium macrocarpum) were quite profuse.  In fact, I don't think I've ever seen the Large-fruited Parsley as profuse as I saw it today.  There was also quite a bit of Hooker's Balsamroot.  As with Cowiche Canyon, the Grass Widows & Yellow Bells etc were mostly past, but some of the later bloomers are coming on - Carey's Balsamroot, Goldenweed, & Thyme-leaf Desert Buckwheat to name a few.  Both afternoons were partly cloudy & warm.

On this beautiful, warm,  sunny and blue sky day we meandered Cowiche Canyon Uplands from the Scenic-Drive TH for almost 4 hours. We were about 2 weeks late for the early spring bloom. Most of the grass widows, Canby's desert parsley, yellow bells, Hooker's balsamroot, and many of the sagebrush violets were past their prime. Bare-stemmed desert parsley, phlox, Columbia desert parsley and a few prairie stars were also seen. We think and hope that we saw a few of the rare endemic Tauschia hooveri which is the CCC's rare and endemic plant. We heard but did not see our first meadowlarks of the year. It was good to see a lady with 2 dogs pick up the 2 dog poop bags she had left along the side of the trail when she began her hike and take them with her. 

I hiked the Jeep Road and South Rim in Cowiche and the horse trail and numerous mountain bike trails at Rocky Top. Overall the flowers are denser at Rocky Top and there is a little more variety there. In both locations the early flowers are starting to fade. The grass widows are fading to deep purples (picture 3) and the sagebrush violets are fading to pretty pastels (picture 2). The various early desert parsley species are fading, many are taking on interesting shapes as they start to go to seed, often looking like umbrella-shaped fireworks. There are still yellow bells and sagebrush buttercups, but not as many. There is a light green-yellow desert parsley that is becoming more abundant and dense in places. Also ascending is phlox (picture 4), Hooker's balsamroot, gold stars and some other small, yellow flowers. There were a few woolly-pod milk-vetch on the jeep trail. These I saw only at Rocky Point: Columbia/purple desert parsley, fragile onion, trumpet bluebells (Mertensia longiflora), and the beautiful daggerpod (picture 1, Phoenicaulis cheiranthoides). It was the first time I have seen daggerpod and it was a treat. When it grabbed my eye, it was a moment that inspired an an out loud, "what is this here?!".  

I encountered about 10 people over my 15 mile hike on this sunny Tuesday. There was no mud, no snakes, and no ticks (that I could see).