I’ve got many pretties for ye today, my darlings. I figured we’d return to our other volcano today, and enjoy all the pretty flowers, because what else could be better on a Saturday? Not much!
Mount Baker’s wildflower season peaked early this year, due to our unusual heat. Almost all the snow was gone, and the spring streams were dry. It didn’t matter to the monkeyflowers, though. They were in vigorous bloom, on the rocks, along the streams, and practically in the streams as well.
We encountered Lewis’ Monkeyflower all over the place, pinking up the local gray andesite, but my camera was not doing pink that day, so unfortunately I haven’t got many artistic shots of them. However, the Seep or Common Monkeyflowers were also in full bloom, and were even more happy growing in the streams, and my camera was doing yellow, so that worked out.
I love how vibrant that is against the dark water, the gray rocks, and the swirls of algae.
And it wasn’t just the rocks that were being all mountain-lake delightful: enormous fallen logs that look just a bit like rocks themselves also played host to flowers, and looked fabulous.
There were enormous banks of purple daisies.
You can see a few of the ubiquitous orange butterflies hanging about on the daisies. You’ll see that much closer soonish, because there were many butterflies, and they were all absolutely mad for those daisies.
The fireweed was just starting to come into its own, and it starred in many pretty scenes. Here it is with some pretty white daisies.
Have you ever looked at the blooms in a fireweed stem up close? They’re really delicate and beautiful.
There’s even a cryptopod in that one, if you look closely enough!
And now, because you’ve all been very patient, I shall give thee flowers with volcanic scenery. Here is fireweed with a beautiful mountain tarn.
And here are some of Mount Baker’s plentiful andesite columns and lovely fireweed.
Believe it or not, these are just a small sampling of all the flower photos I took. You can find many more over at Flickr if you’re not done enjoying the blossoms. I loved our trip to Mount St. Helens a lot, but when it comes to blooming things and pretty insects, Mount Baker has her beat this year. Superb!
These are all so beautiful, thank you for sharing them. I’m in the city these days, and appreciate these litte bits of wildness.
One thing I really miss about the northwest and Alaska (among others) is the fireweed. I always loved that stuff.