17 June 2018 Pend Oreille County Park

I arrived early Sunday afternoon for a week in the local offices. With the latest sunset very near I decided to drive the extra distance to re-visit the trails of Pend Oreille County Park. Ali and I had a brief taste of this park on a visit north to BC. Today I was alone for a wonderfully hot day on the trail. With plenty of water and a loaded gps, I hit the trails for six hours of hiking. The spring wildflowers were everywhere and the views from the ridge trail were wonderful. I left a few caches for another visit.

Columbia Lilies were everywhere here. They bloom as singles and multiple stems. The were very common on the flatter trails at the lower elevations.

I was walking along a spur trail in the lower elevation when I first spotted bunchberry and its companion clintonia from the east. The bunchberry was a carpet of green and blossoms along the side of the trail while the clintonia was still in budding.

It seemed my timing this year was always slightly off for clintonia.

Lupine are very common in my Spokane hiking journeys, but they were in bloom today and more plentiful at this park than I have seen at other area parks.

The trails I hiked took me through a series of climbs and descends. I was in a wet low area when I spotted a mountain ladys slipper orchid.

After the orchid spotting, I made the toughest uphill of the afternoon. Unfortunately, I also found a ground nest and was stung multiple times. I cleared the climb and spent some time resting to recover from the stings. Once I was moving again, I came on a super stand of lupine in bloom