Actually hiked the loop of which the Clara Lake trail is a part, starting at the Upper Devil's Gulch trailhead, up the FS road, across to Clara Lake, down the Clara Lake trail, and back on the pipeline trail, about 6.1 miles. It makes a pretty easy loop and eliminates the steep climb and descent between the pipeline trail and the Clara Lake Trailhead. Road to the trailhead no problem for a RAV4.
Wildflowers were out in force. I photographed and identified 77 different varieties on the loop. That counts all the teeny white ones, the different species of similar types, and such, but still, it was pretty impressive. Lots of Tweedy's lewisia, arnica (heartleaf and broadleaf), rock clematis, yellow columbine, two types of paintbrush, low and showy Jacob's ladder, scarlet gilia, brushy penstemon...oh, and a purple lupine carpet under the Ponderosas on the way up. It was a colorful day!
The first part was a road walk through mostly open Ponderosa pine and larch that have burned in the past, but there were so many flowers we didn't notice it. And nice mountain views to the north. The trail eventually leaves the road and runs more or less level along the base of a large boulder field where new varieties of flowers were found.
Nearing Clara Lake the forest thickened, the flowers thinned a little, and the mosquitos started showing up. Moderately bad, but with repellant and movement, I only was bitten when I stopped to take pictures. Yea, so I got quite a few bites. At the intersection with the Clara Lake trail, we skipped the short side trip to the lake and headed down the trail for a new mix of forest loving flowers.
Left the Clara Lake trail at the pipeline trail for the last couple miles back to the car. More of a road walk, but lots more flowers, quite a few butterflies, and occasional views down towards Wenatchee. Only passed a couple other people on the trail, a couple cars and motorcycles passed us on the road. Mostly quiet solitude and flowers. A beautiful day!
Comments