Rainier Wildflower Update

Finally! Spray Park has gone wild. Was there last night to a sea of wildflowers. Sunset was mediocre, but the flowers were anything but. Bring lots of repellant as the mosquitoes just hatched and they are mighty hungry!

Thanks for the update, Justin. Wish I could make it up there, but I need a down weekend...Best of luck to all who head up there and...post some pics!

Great news. Thanks much for the update.

Undoubtably, that was Justine galloping past me and hiking buddy Steve Lepenske on the darkened trail back to Mowich Lake. Headlamp bouncing merrily along, Justine seemed full of energy. Steve and I were taking a rest aside the trail before finishing the day's events. We enjoy the sublime beauty of nature even under a dark forest canopy, nary a star seen. It speaks of the joys God gives we older folk, priviledged to partake in more frequent rests as our bodies are alway poised to off-load the day-pack.

Flowers...upper Spray w/a few fields of lupine...fragrant too. Bear grass, Indian Paint and a few avalanche lilies hanging in there. Great variety...but no massive blooms of color like some unique years. Tarns are not as abundant as earlier...and drying fast.

I'm a newbie to Rainier (first timer this week), and spent the last three days at Paradise. I think the peak will be next week. I'm not sure what others have seen other years, but there is a ton of paint brush and lupine fixin' to pop with the heat of this weekend. The fact that avalanche lilies are still lingering suggests a late flower bloom as much as a bust. I'll post a sample from yesterday sometime tomorrow when I sort through the week of shots..

I just spent this morning at Sunrise and Chinook Pass.

Sunrise is basically at the beginning of the daisy/aster phase of blooms. There still are some lupine blooms but they exist along the margins of the timber atolls. Like Marylynne mentioned, I also noticed the explosion of Indian Paintbrush (both at Sunrise & Chinook Pass).

Chinook Pass (and the loop around Naches) definately need another week. The meadows around Tipsoo don't have much in bloom although the point near the parking lot looks nice. I also noticed that the lupine that were in bloom had LESS blooms per stalk (typically 4,5 levels).

I set out along the loop on the backside of Naches but only went as far as the tarn. There are still avalanche lillies in bloom (and still looking pretty good!) scattered along the trail. Once again, less blooms than last year, a healthy showing of Paintbrush, and the Sitka Valerian was either fresh in bloom or still revealing their blooms.

I also passed 3 dozen people on my way out & 5 horses.

I'll try to post a conditions photo from Tipsoo later tonight / tomorrow.

Here's a pano from Tipsoo Lake taken this morning

Did Spray Park yesterday, its patchy at best. Some pretty vast stretches of really profuse Lupine, but Paintbrush is scarce and Aster, Arnica, Anemone and Monkeyflower are all practically non existent. Lots and LOTS of and LOTS of mosquitoes though, so there's that.

Thanks to everyone for trip reports! Am eager to go, so this is very helpful. Even if its not the greatest wildflower season on record, it'll be so nice to be on the Mountain. May the good light be with us.

I spent some time in the park this weekend, the flower situation is looking increasingly grim. There are areas where there are some nice patches, but the rangers at Paradise seemed to agree that we're about at peak right now and the meadows look pretty sordid. Pretty much all the flowers are blooming where they are out, lots of places where there are profuse Aster along the road, but very little was visible in the meadows. Paintbrush is definitely scarce this year, Lupine is okay, Arnica is pretty limited and all the Western Anemone look stunted. The weather looks good for the next three days, so get out and see what you can while you can, because next weekend looks like it may get cold enough at the higher elevations to start damaging the crops.

I recant my previous post. Around the parking lots at Paradise there is pretty much nothing, but up on Mazama Ridge and presumably along the Skyline Trail on the west side of the loop the flowers are looking pretty good - in some cases VERY thick. Still patchy but I think this is about as good as we'll get this year. Be prepared to hike to see them this year.

I was up on Mazama Ridge about a week ago and there were some areas that were pretty nice and some areas that had alot of lupine that was just beginning to bloom. It's not the year we saw a few years ago where everything bloomed at once and the meadows were bursting with color but there are (or at least there were) some photo worthy areas.