Head for the Hills, Part 1

Clear Lake

What's a wildflower junkie to do as summer marches on and the low elevation woodland flowers go to seed? Head for the hills of course! Or more precisely, go up to the mountains to "follow the bloom" as the old-timers say. Admittedly, heading to the hills, or anywhere for that matter, is much easier now that our entire staff is retired from the daily grind of an actual paying job. The challenge that remains however, is how to choose a destination from hundreds of possibilities. Luckily, there are quite a few online resources as well as guide books that help narrow the choices down - hats off to those pioneers of the botanical journalism world!

So in late July, we packed up our trusty photo gear, cleaned out our moldy backpacks, sprayed off our hiking boots, and headed out to the mountains of Central Oregon. Our base camp, was the tiny tourist town of Sisters, just east of the Cascade Crest. This gave us good access to the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness as well as several other notable plant areas.

Ancient logs preserved by the
lake's cold water.

We warmed up our citified hiking muscles on the first day out with an enjoyable five mile loop walk around the very aptly named Clear Lake, which is about 10 miles southwest of Santiam Pass. This area is on the very edge of the transition from mountain forest to high desert. It's a fascinating spot because the lake, at 3000 ft. elevation, is a natural bowl that captures chilly 38 degree water flowing from a large spring, before it spills out at the south end of the lake where it becomes the well known McKenzie River. The small lake is indeed incredibly clear and thankfully is protected from motorized boating.


Along the heavily forested trail around the lake we saw Bunchberry, Prince's Pine, Foamflower, the colorless Gnome Plant, and Naked Eriogonum as well as Douglas Fir, Mountain Hemlock, and Vine Maple. Here are a few highlights:

Prince's Pine (Chimaphilia umbelata) Native.

Foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata) Native.

Gnome Plant (Hermitomes congestum). Native.

     

Even in July, moss and fungi persist here.

Nurse stump with Western Hemlock.

The animal wildlife was scarce on this mid-day hike, but we did manage to spot a Stellar's Jay family near the busy trailhead parking lot. One or two adults were feeding a nearly full sized fledgling jay. It was a good reminder for me to bring some snacks along on the hike!

     

And to close part one of our two-part post, the bonus round of this visit was to take a short ride down to the massive Sahalie and Koosah falls, just a mile down the road. 

Sahalie Falls