(1) A walk up the creek after some heavy February rains...
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An old still site, on a tributary of Bell Creek
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Some small waterfalls on a normally placid section of Bell Creek
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More cascades on Bell Creek
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(2) A mid-March exploration yielded a beautiful waterfall gorge in Stillhouse Cove:
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From the base of the gorge
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Upper section
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A nice freefall
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(3) At the end of March, I took a walk up into the Wilderness Area with Molly, hoping to find some "different" early
spring wildflowers. I headed for a creek drainage of which I had explored the headwaters, but had never visited the
middle elevations. While the wildflowers I saw were the usual finds, I did come across a couple of unusual sights:
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The first find was this huge boulder along a creek branch.
Look closely at the top of the rock. Do you see the herbal layer with spots of bronze-red coloring?
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A beautiful colony of Trillium cuneatum growing atop the rock, along with Yellow Halberd-leaved Violets (Viola hastata).
In all my wanderings through the Wilderness, I've never come across such a dense group of flowering Trilliums as this!
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Molly, doing her own exploring...
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The second 'unusual' find wasn't so much unusual as unexpected - a small waterfall gorge!
I've explored much of the western end of the Wilderness Area, but owing to particular routes taken and destinations, I've missed
some areas. This gorge is surprisingly close to our home, yet I had never seen it. Although hidden due to topography, we can
spot the location from our deck. While the falls are small and not spectacular, they were still a nice surprise to come across so
unexpectedly. Being on a wildflower expedition, I didn't even bring my tripod, so these images are not the sharpest:
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Lower section of falls, as I approached from below
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Middle section
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Upper section of falls
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2018 wildflower images are in other albums, but here are two of many seen on this trek:
Dimpled Trout Lily (Erythronium umbilicatum), above, and Trillium cuneatum - yellow form, below.
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