Marble Mountains (Pt. 4)

...Continued from Pt. 3 ... 

Cresting Burn Mountain

As we approached the top of what I have been calling "Burn Mountain", the trail wrapped around the back West-facing side where a fire had apparently killed all the trees, creating a very exposed and rocky slope.  Many wildflowers were flourishing here, perhaps due to all the sunlight they were receiving, in conjunction with a good wet Spring this year.

Tree skeletons abound

Tree spirit

Common Woolly Sunflower (Eriophyllum lanatum)

Unknown species of Penstemon (Penstemon sp.)

Hairy Yellow Paintbrush (Castilleja pilosa)
Another hemi-parasitic species of Indian Paintbrush, in the Broomrape family, Orobanchaceae.

Tolmiei's Pussy Ears (Calochortus tolmiei)
This one was tiny, maybe the size of a dime.  I easily could have missed it, but my eyes were on high alert, fortunately!

A species of Willowherb (Epilobium)... I'm not sure if it is Siskiyou Fireweed (Epilobium siskiyouense) or Rockfringe Willowherb (Epilobium obcordatum):

The more common Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium) which has a wide distribution and grows at a large range of altitudes.
A member of the same family, Onagraceae, as the previous species.

Stonecrop (Sedum sp.) succulent was prevalent all along our hike, anywhere sunny and rocky.  I am not sure on the species though:

Scarlet Gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata)
a member of the Phlox family Polemoniaceae

Some sort of Apiaceae species overlooking a distant peak

Moon Rocks

Trekking through the towering skeletons...

More Sulfur Buckwheat on the peak

Buckwheat & White Yarrow.  Mt. Shasta on the horizon.

Destination reached!

Group shot overlooking Cliff Lake where our camp is.
Mt. Shasta on the horizon again.

It was a great day full of lots of interesting plants and stunning views!

Marble Mountains (Pt. 3)

Burn Mountain Overlook

On day two we left our backpacks behind and made our way up to a peak overlooking Cliff Lake, where we were camped.  Here are some of the flowers I saw:

Western Columbine (Aquilegia formosa?)

 

Dusky Onion (Allium campanulatum)

Bitter Dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium)

Dogbane getting a visit from a butterfly

Sierra Shooting Star (Dodecatheon jeffreyi)

We stopped at Summit Lake for lunch and a swim...

...as well as to admire some neat plants found right beside us on this stone outcropping:

Fluffy Pussy Paws (Calyptridium umbellatum)

Quill-Leaf Lewisia (Lewisia leeana) with a small bee

Cliff Maids (Lewisia cotyledon) with a small beetle

...not sure what this blue-greyish succulent is, but it made a nice vignette

Mountain Jewelflower (Streptanthus tortuosus):

We left Summit Lake and continued on our way up the mountain...

Looking back down at Summit Lake

There's the meadow from two pictures previous

Sulfur Buckwheat? (Eriogonum sp.) These were prevalent all over the drier more sun-exposed, rocky areas of our trip.  There seemed to be at least a couple similar-looking species, so I won't try to guess what this one is.

...To Be Continued in Pt. 4...

Marble Mountains (Pt. 2)

Mighty Mints of the Mountains

Members of the "Mint Family" Lamiaceae:

Self-Heal (Prunella vulgaris)

Hummingbird Mint (Agastache sp.)

Coyote Mint (Monardella sp.)

Lamiaceae are a genus often beloved by all sorts of nectar-feeding critters:

Unknown butterfly on coyote mint

This next butterfly, also feeding on coyote mint, is called a Hoary Comma (Polygonia gracilis) for the white comma-shaped marking on the underside of its wings (barely visible if you zoom in on the left image).

Here's a separate sighting with a better view of the small white comma on the underside of the wing.

Marble Mountains Pt.1

My dad, my brother-in-law Dave, and myself revived our annual backpacking tradition, after having taken a four year break since the pandemic began.

We had a great time immersed in nature and I dorked out pretty hard photographing all the amazing plants, many of which were still blooming magnificently, I assume bolstered by all the rain we received in California this past Spring.

Hitting the trail, fresh and full of vigor!

I took over 600 pictures, mostly of flowers.  I enjoy discovering new species and researching them, and finding out what families they belong to.  I'm going to try to be somewhat scientific and present most of these pictures in groupings based on those botanical families...

First of all, as we began our hike up the Shackleford Creek Trail, through a forest of various conifers, there was one curious and dainty little flower sprinkled alongside the path.  It was the only member of its family that I observed:

Asyneuma prenanthoides (California Harebell)
member of the Campanulaceae family

Also, throughout the shaded forest floor were a number of examples of the Heather family Ericaceae, a family known for it's often-inverted urn-shaped blossoms:

Pyrola sp.
(not sure on exact species)

This I'm pretty sure is White-veined Wintergreen (Pyrola picta), also prevalent in the shade

Pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata), yet another species of low-growing Ericaceae.  This one has been purported to have various medicinal uses, as well as being a good flavoring for root beer, according to Wikipedia.

The next three members of Ericaceae I will share were seen on day 2, further up the trail.  These are all more shrubby in stature, and were found in sunnier locales:

Manzanita Arctostaphylos uva-ursi? seen on the dry, rocky slopes, often hugging boulders.  This one had a nice beam of sun spotlighting it's dramatic contortions.

...and these next two are both members of the subfamily Ericoideae, and were growing together along the bank of Summit Lake:

Two pictures of Pink Mountainheath (Phyllodoce empetriformis):

  ...and one picture of Western Labrador Tea (Rhododendron columbianum):

Summit Lake, a refreshing place to take a dip and have some lunch.

Always love seeing newts!:

Rough-skinned Newt (Taricha granulosa)

...and a silvery-blue colored one