A number of folks wondered about the timing of the Rhododendron blooms in the Olympics when I posted a Rhododendron image from the Olympics in the landscape gallery a few weeks ago. Just wanted to let folks know that the rhodies appear to be blooming a bit early this year, by several weeks.
To get an idea of where things are, my wife and I drove up the Mt Walker road yesterday (May 18), a 4 mile road that is on the eastern side of the Olympics at about milepost 300 on highway 101. The road starts at about 700ft elevation and tops out at 2800ft. Right now, rhodies are blooming like crazy all along the first 2 miles of road (700 to 1700ft elevation), with still more buds ready to bloom. The upper 2 miles of road (above about 1700ft elevation) is still delayed a bit but looks like rhodies will be blooming within the next week or so. The terrain of Mt Walker is pretty steep with lots of nice hemlock and douglas fir, but still not too bad as far as an opportunity to get some nice rhodie shots, especially on a foggy day. Granted, you are not going to find the mammoth size trees that folks see in the redwood forests of Northern California, but I think its nice.
Other popular areas for rhodies on the east side of the Olympics include the Upper Quilcene River Trail (goes to Marmot Pass) as well as the rhody famous Mt Zion Trail, both of which start at elevations of about 2000ft. I haven't made it up to those trails yet but would imagine that the rhodies are still in the bud stage given the higher elevation.
Hope this proves useful for those interested.
I was around the Pacific Northwest area (Olympics, Oregon, and redwood NP) last week. Interestingly, Rhododendrons were blooming profusely along highways and around residential and commercial areas in all three states, but they are hard to find in the forests (park rangers of redwood SP said that I had to wait for a few more weeks). I guess that the blooms are delayed in the forests because of the lake of sunshine?
Discussion
1 repliesTo get an idea of where things are, my wife and I drove up the Mt Walker road yesterday (May 18), a 4 mile road that is on the eastern side of the Olympics at about milepost 300 on highway 101. The road starts at about 700ft elevation and tops out at 2800ft. Right now, rhodies are blooming like crazy all along the first 2 miles of road (700 to 1700ft elevation), with still more buds ready to bloom. The upper 2 miles of road (above about 1700ft elevation) is still delayed a bit but looks like rhodies will be blooming within the next week or so. The terrain of Mt Walker is pretty steep with lots of nice hemlock and douglas fir, but still not too bad as far as an opportunity to get some nice rhodie shots, especially on a foggy day. Granted, you are not going to find the mammoth size trees that folks see in the redwood forests of Northern California, but I think its nice.
Other popular areas for rhodies on the east side of the Olympics include the Upper Quilcene River Trail (goes to Marmot Pass) as well as the rhody famous Mt Zion Trail, both of which start at elevations of about 2000ft. I haven't made it up to those trails yet but would imagine that the rhodies are still in the bud stage given the higher elevation.
Hope this proves useful for those interested.