Sagebrush and Wind

On my recent "Vision Quest" photo road trip to central Oregon, I spent a few days admiring the vastness of the sagebrush steppe country. As many of you know, this part of Oregon is a dry, hilly, windy, and sparsely populated land. The hot grassy hills are accented by cool, clear rivers and colorful rock formations, making the scenery quite attractive to visitors like me. The elevation in this steppe country varies from about 2000 to 4000 feet and the annual precipitation is 10 inches or less. The weather was a bit hot, but otherwise near perfect. Sadly, the week after my visit, lightning storms started several wildfires in the area.

John Day River at Cottonwood Canyon State Park

The two main signs of human presence here are the thousands of acres of wheat growing on private land, and the hundreds of giant wind turbines perched above these fields. It's quite a sight to see, as you venture south from the Columbia River Gorge on highway 206, through Wasco and Condon.

Wheat and Wind Generators north of Condon

I was not expecting to see many wildflowers in this area, this time of year. And that was a good thing, as there were hardly any blooming in the hot July climate. Most of the native grasses at the lower elevations were completely dry, as were the wildflowers that had long since bloomed.

Dry hillside at Clarno

But I did run across a few hardy flora as I made my way to the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and then later to Bend. The drive on highway 218 from Fossil to Madras is very scenic, as it summits a small range of picturesque valleys and juniper hillsides.

Juniper, sagebrush, and dry grass for miles.

Sole Tree - Populus solis seen near Mitchell on US 26

Some of the blooms I captured are natives, but several are non-native, invasive ones, which seemed to be widespread in this area.

Green-banded Mariposa Lily (Calochortus macrocarpus). This
native was growing in a shady spot off the road at about 4000 ft.

Near the lily, a Narrow Leaved Collomia (Collomia linaris) takes
a last gasp of summer air.

This dainty Snow Buckwheat (Eriogonium niveum) is flowering
at Clarno. Flowers are 1/4 inch wide.

Yarrow and Woolly Mullein stuggle in the dry, burned out gulch
at Clarno.

     

The non-native and very nasty Cotton Thistle (Onopordum acanthium) were widespread near the Painted Hills part of the monument.

Another invasive, Russian Knapweed (Acroptilon repens) seen
at Cottonwood Canyon State Park

Yellow Bee Plant (Cleome lutea) shows its
stuff at Cottonwood Canyon.

This one get the nod for strangest name: White Virgins-Bower
(Clematis ligusticifolia). Seen at the Mitchell city park.

The colorful Dalmatian Toadflax (Linaria dalmatica). I found
these non-natives is several locations near Sheep Rock and Bend.

Close up view of the D. Toadflax flowers, about 1.5 in. long.

Prarie Clover (Petalostemon ornatum) heads. No flowers
remaining but they were purple.

     

If I had to name one flowering plant I saw most frequently, it would be the one above: Blue Eldeberry (Sambucus nigra ssp. cerulea). This lush shrub was seen along roads and creeks nearly everywhere I went. It is a native plant that was used extensively by our Native Americans in the region. Nearly every  part of the plant was used for some purpose.

     

Here, one of my favorites, the Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa). This one was growing right by the elderberry above. Milkweeds attract a wide range of insects as you can see on the photo. They are native to the west and bloom all summer.

And last but not least, a dishonorable mention goes to the Yellow Starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis), also called Puncturevine (no photo). That second name is especially telling in that I encountered the nasty dried thorns from this plant on the trail at Cottonwood Canyon. My back tire managed to pick up about a half dozen, while my front tire took at least four. Needless to say I had to replace the tubes!

Iron Mountain - Cone Peak

Nearly every Oregon wildflower guide book has a chapter on Iron Mountain. It's listed as one of the premier locations for summer blooms in the central Oregon Cascades. And rightly so, as I discovered on my recent visit to this challenging, popular hike. Iron Mountain and its neighbor, Cone Peak are located about 60 miles southeast of Albany, making a day hike impractical from our area. The peak bloom is in July, so I decided to bundle in a mini-vacation to central Oregon, thereby including a stop at Iron Mountain. A great excuse for a road trip to the mountains!

     

     

I planned for a weekday visit thinking there would be fewer people on the trail. And I wanted a sunny, windless day as well - not too much to ask! Well, I pretty much got what I wanted, although it was a hot day, even at the 5,300 foot level for most of this hike. Coming from Bend, I arrived at the trail head around noon. There were already about a dozen cars at the Tombstone Pass parking area which amazed me, given the day and remoteness of this hike.

So I gathered up all my gear and lots of water, and headed up the Cone Peak loop. The seven mile loop is a classic journey through many different plant communities at different elevations, terrains, and shaded/open areas. It was a wonderful four hours and I chatted with a few folks, mostly active senior types and one younger family from MN who were just loving the views. The hike has quite a bit of up and down, with the Iron Mountain lookout at 5,440 ft. My pain-based guess is the total elevation gain throughout the loop is about 1000 to 1,200 feet over the entire loop and the killer side trip up to the lookout.

I saw many familiar mountain blooms as well as about a half dozen completely new ones, and one "trophy" bloom, the lovely Washington Lily, a Northwest native I had not seen before. Here's a rundown of the discoveries. All are natives unless noted and are in more or less the order found.

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