Hi Tweets: I hit send too soon on that previous message. Please use the post below.
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Hi Tweeters: From July 2 to July 5, I backpacked along Sawtooth Ridge in the Okanagon National Forest?and wanted to give a high-country bird/trail/flower report. As everyone knows, we had an epic winter, with lots of snow left in the backcountry--especially on the west side of the mountains. The wet spring has produced an abundance of wildflowers, but the cold weather has?had an impact on bird life. The most noticable for us was the absence of hummingbirds, relative to?other years. At this time of year, the mountain wildflower?meadows are usually whirring with hummingbirds, and backpackers dressed in bright colors get buzzed frequently.?On our trip, we saw only one hummer, which was gone too swiftly to identify.
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If you're going out and up, be prepared for snow in places where it's usually not in?July. Don't leave the ice axe at home and wish you had it later. Be safe, and in some cases, be prepared to be the first people out there. Lots of folks have stayed away because of conditions. We hiked up?the?Summer Blossom?Trail and saw no other boot tracks, only?bear, deer and elk tracks. Snow was patchy. We did a loop that led us over the 8,000-foot Angel's Staircase, which straddles Okanagon and Chelan counties, and thankfully the snow there had melted free of the trail.
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Without listing all the species, the most notable birds were THREE-TOED WOODPECKER, lots of?HERMIT THRUSHES, MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, FOX SPARROW, PURPLE FINCH and of course, one of our favorites, CLARK'S NUTCRACKER.
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The flowers were amazing in range, everything from YELLOW FAWN LILY?where snow had just melted to PASQUE FLOWERS already?gone to seed.?Among the best flowers were STONY-GROUND LUPINE, an abundance of SCARLET GILIA and even some?COLUMBIA VIRGIN'S BOWER (Clematis columbiana).?
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On the way home over Highway 20, we saw PINE GROSBEAKS at the Rainy?Lake Picnic Area in North Cascades National Park, which still has snow in the parking lot that people?haven't driven through!
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Liz Brown
Edmonds, Wash.