Clark's Oregon Wildflower Blog: Head for the Hills, Part 2

Jack Lake

Rise and shine for day two of the quest for new trails, wildflowers and mountain vistas. After a hardy breakfast at the wonderful Blue Spruce Bead and Breakfast, our base camp, we head out for today's outing: Canyon Creek Meadows in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness. First stop, the ranger station in Sisters where I get the latest road and trail conditions. They give us the all-clear, and we drive northwest for about 25 miles - the last six being a steep, cinder-gravel washboard road with plenty of dust!

Fortunately the day is mild, clear, and with little wind. We arrive at the 5,130 ft. trailhead in about an hour. Not being early risers, we join about ten other vehicles in the rocky lot. A group of senior hikers in a small van line up at the pit toilet before starting off on their trek - always a wise choice. Today's hike is a 7.5 mile loop with two spur trails going to other points of interest: Three Fingered Jack and Wasco Lake.

The trail starts out in a burned out area from a massive fire in 2003. There is plenty of new growth as well as long dead black and silver tree trunks standing watch over the terrain. A tiny lake, Jack Lake, serves as a watering hole for the lucky canines on the trail. From here we get a glimpse of Three Fingered Jack, a worn down volcanic peak to the west. The name is puzzling because from this angle I don't see anything that resembles a finger on the massive rock pile.

The meadows are located about two miles from the trailhed, but after a half mile into the hike we spot our first wildflowers: some Glaucous Penstemon, many Broadleaf Lupine, and the striking Scarlet Gilia, shown here:

The route is quite varied, with ravines and exposed areas to explore as we wind through some forest that escaped the 2003 burn until reaching the meadows east of Three Fingered Jack. There are multiple creeks and mini-brooks flowing with snow melt, even in late July. The water is icy cold as it begins its journey down to the east.

Snowmelt from Three Fingered Jack

We find many more flowers as we approach the meadows, including the azure Cascades Penstemon, Gray's Lovage, the intense Menzie's Larkspur, and one of my favorites, the diminutive, ground- hugging Subalpine Mariposa Lily.

From the meadows, the trail gets steeper as we slowly march up to the base of the mountain. I'm motivated to reach the hight point of the hike, as well as stopping for lunch and a rest! The scenery is awe-inspiring here, making for easy distractions. Along the creek we spotted about a dozen of these beetles, roaming around on the Sitka Valerian. Later, at the edge of the upper meadow, giant bumblebees were visiting the Pink Mountain Heather.

A golden Longhorn beetle on Sitka Valerian.

Western Bumblebee on Pink Mountain
Heather

Approaching "Jack." Note hikers on trail.

At foot of Jack. In this area, we saw only
young Mountain Hemlock, and lots of them!

At the high point of the hike, and roughly the half way mark, I take a long lunch break to reflect on the journey so far and make notes. I underscore two plants, which I had not previously seen and have since identified: California Stickseed and the tiny and barely noticeable Alpine Willowherb. In fact, I would not have seen the willowherb had it not been growing next to my lunch spot!

The stickseed resembles the smaller Rusty Popcorn flower, but its bloom is the size of a dime and the leaves are different. The Alpine Willowherb has the classic lobed, four petal blossom, but is the size of a pencil eraser and only about 3 in. high. It's always fun to make a new discovery along the way!

Stay tuned for the final part of this great hike coming soon. Meanwhile, use the link below to see the photo album for this post.