A flower and ice cave report for the Paradise Glacier trail. There is a fairly clear and unbraided 1/2 mile bootpath from the end of the maintained Paradise Glacier trail to the area with the ice caves. One does have to walk carefully in areas to avoid stepping on the fragile plantlife. The large snow field at the 1/2 mile point could be dangerous to cross (I could see a large stream undercutting the snow I had contemplated crossing, see the end of the video). There are lots of very striking flowers that have taken root in this area that was recently covered by the Paradise Glacier: tufted saxifrage looks like it can grow anywhere, I saw a few silverleaf phacelia, magenta paintbrush, arnica (hairy arnica maybe), in the wet areas there is a lot of pink-purple alpine willowherb, pink and yellow monkey flower, and lots of other non-flowering flora.
The 4 miles from Reflection Lakes to the ice caves is an amazing transition, from forest to subalpine meadows to alpine converting to meadows to almost-barren alpine, The transitions along the Paradise Glacier trail are particularly striking. On the glacier trail there are lots of rocks that have striations or grooves that were cut by the glacier. I took a very short side trip on the Skyline trail past/north of the Paradise Glacier turnoff to see the stream/Paradise River crossing, the pink monkey flower is very abundant right now (picture 4).
My out and back route was the Lakes trail starting at Reflection Lakes, up Mazama Ridge to the Skyline Trail, to the Paradise Glacier Trail. Starting at 6:45 AM on this Labor Day weekend Sunday I did not encounter any hikers until I started my return. Even on the return, the only trail that had many people was the short section on the Skyline.
There are ripe berries (and some fresh berry-filled bear scat) on the Lakes trail. The berry bushes make up most of the fall colors coming out. Lots of beautiful gentian near the lakes, some Cascade asters are holding on, and you'll see some late bloomers here and there (lupine, paintbrush, cinquefoil, and more).
Comments
glucas on Paradise Glacier, Skyline Trail Loop, Lakes Loop
Sorry to bother you with this, but I've been seeing these flowers along the trails in the Rainier area for the last few weeks but have had zero luck identifying them after trying all my usual resources plus a few. I don't suppose you happen to know what they are? Thanks for any help you can lend!! I promise not to bother you with these too often ;-)
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/A6t1UC8ETju0-Y-1LEtyow.slkxbY0BY3YlQUTgMxsAwb
Posted by:
glucas on Sep 12, 2021 09:21 AM
AlpsDayTripper on Paradise Glacier, Skyline Trail Loop, Lakes Loop
It looks a lot like an avalanche lily in the seed stage, but I'm not sure. You can "bother me" anytime. Thanks for your question and for your reports!
Posted by:
AlpsDayTripper on Sep 12, 2021 05:21 PM
glucas on Paradise Glacier, Skyline Trail Loop, Lakes Loop
That's definitely a closer match than anything else I was finding. It would be nice if there were more resources that showed seed heads for flowers (other than the pasqueflower which gets photos everywhere). Thanks for your insight!
Posted by:
glucas on Sep 12, 2021 05:35 PM
AlpsDayTripper on Paradise Glacier, Skyline Trail Loop, Lakes Loop
I think you know about it, but in case you don't, the UW has a really good site with lots of really helpful photos for every flower. This is their page for avalanche lilies https://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection/taxon.php?Taxon=Erythronium%20montanum
Posted by:
AlpsDayTripper on Sep 12, 2021 07:55 PM
glucas on Paradise Glacier, Skyline Trail Loop, Lakes Loop
Yeah, I do love that site for photos. Also their app, which you clued me in on, has been fantastic! Thanks again!
Posted by:
glucas on Sep 12, 2021 08:28 PM