Rainer NP Wildflowers

As promised, my report on Rainier NP area wildflowers:

I made the drive up to Chinook Pass on Wednesday (07/29), scouting for our August workshop. Wildflowers along 410 and at the pass are simply amazing. Tens of thousands of glacier lilies are in bloom. The place is carpeted. Mosquitos aren't too bad. Don't step on patches of bright green moss... there's 3 feet of water underneath them... trust me.

I met photographer Jennifer Wu, a Canon Explorer of Light from Sacremento, on the trail and had the pleasure of returning a lens hood that she'd lost. It was her first visit to the area. I'm glad she made it up there for such an excellent year.

The drive along to sunrise was just as good. Wildflowers everywhere. I didn't make it all the way up to Paradise, too much traffic for my tastes, but Jennifer reports that the blooms are not quite as far along there. My gut tells me that it will be just as good in a few weeks.

Temperature upon arrival at the pass at 7:00 was 64F. Leaving at 10:30, it was just over 70F. I'll be back up there in a week or so and will report again.

Regards,
-jamie

Thanks Jamie for the update. That's really good news!

Well, it looks like I'll be spending much of the weekend on the mountain!

I must admit I'm a bit concerned about your workshop, though. If flowers are peaking this week and next, are there going to be any left by the time August 21-22 rolls around?

A follow up: Flowers are indeed at their peak at Tipsoo -- it's pretty spectacular. I'd describe Sunrise as a litte past peak at this point (most of the lupine's gone and the dominant flower at the moment, alpine aster, is starting to wilt), although there should still be decent photo ops there for the next few days.

I'll echo James' observations. I was up there Friday and Tipsoo / Naches Loop were in prime conditions. I ended my day with a trip to Mazama Ridge. Some small stretches of fantastic wildflowers but still stretches where the lillies were fading and the lupine were still coming up.

I have three seperate posts on my blog with photos from each stop:

Tipsoo Lake:
http://scolephoto.blogspot.com/2009/08/mount-rainier-wildflowers-1.html

Naches Loop:
http://scolephoto.blogspot.com/2009/08/mount-rainier-wildflowers-2.html

Mazama Ridge:
http://scolephoto.blogspot.com/2009/08/mount-rainier-wildflowers-3.html

I'm a little concerned about August, yes. The heat wave has things moving much faster than expected. That said, we'll likely see an abundance of asters, rabbitbrush and other wildflowers that normally bloom later in the season.

Whatever the conditions, such a beautiful area is never short on photo opportunities. We'll make the best of what is available.

Went to Paradise yesterday, carpeted in mostly lupine, some paint brush, aster and anemone mixed in. Avalanche lilies in a few spots. Still pretty cool though!

I was up on Mazama Ridge (via Reflection Lakes) yesterday in the light rain & fog. The lower ridge flowers were transitioning to Aster / Fleabane but the flowers along the main portion of the ridge were in prime conditions. Simply amazing. There were still nice stretches of wildflowers all the way up to the Van Trump Memorial where I turned around.

It was hard to pare down to a couple photos but I've posted about 9 photos in my latest blog post:

http://scolephoto.blogspot.com/2009/08/mazama-ridge.html