Clark's Oregon Wildflower Blog: Silver Star Mountain

Silver Star Mountain Summit with Mt. Saint Helens to the right in the clouds.
American Bistort - Polygonum bistortoides in the foreground.

We had many reports that one of the best spots for summer wildflowers is Silver Star Mountain in southwestern Washington. I had also heard this was a stellar hike last year when chatting with fellow climbers on the Mt. Saint Helens climb. So last Sunday (7/07/2013), we packed up or day hike gear, cameras, and headed over the bridge.

It takes a bit more than two hours to get to the trailhead in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. At 5 miles, it's the perfect day hike for people like me who like to stop frequently to take in the natural lay of the land, and take wildflower pictures. It starts out at 2950 feet and gains 1440 in the 2.5 miles up.

The hike was jaw-dropping in terms of scenery and flora. I took about 250 pictures, of which you'll see a few below. Most of the hike is in a subalpine environment, so there were many blooms we had not seen recently.

A marine layer cloud cover greeted us at the as we began the hike, but started to burn off about 30 minutes into our five hour trek. All in all it was a great day and we place this hike in our top 5 for sure!

If you are thinking about going to Silver Star, get precise directions from a recent guidebook as the roads to the trailhead are challenging . We used an excellent one: "Day Hiking - Columbia River Gorge" by Craig Romano.

Here are some of the noteworthy blooms we found on the hike. I'll add more as time allows!