Subject: [Tweeters] Silver Star Mountain
Date: Jul 29 22:16:45 2011
From: Dave Hayden - dtvhm at nwrain.com


Sherry and I headed down to SE of Battleground to the Silver Star Mountain trail. Birding was quiet for the most part. We had RED CROSSBILL, PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER, PINE SISKIN, 1 OSPREY, 1 NORTHERN HARRIER, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, DARK-EYED JUNCO, BARN SWALLOW, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD (lots), ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, and 1 ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD.
But the best part of the hike was the spectacular flower display. The trail is mostly in the open, and it was just a short ways up the trail before we hit the flowers. It was a sea of flowers. It took us 5 hours to get to the top of Silver Star Mountain, and it's only 2 miles in. We kept finding new flowers, and the views were great. A few flowers seen were, Indian Paintbrush, Lupine, Tiger Lily, Bistort, Sitka Valerian, Wall Flower, Stone Crop, Purple Violet, Yellow Violet, Penstenmon (4 species for sure), Sitka Columbine, Bleeding Heart, Wild Iris, Avalanche Lily, Miner's Lettuce, Foam Flower, Service Berry, Mountain Spirea, Subalpine Daisy, and the list goes on. When we came to the intersection, near the beginning, we took the trail to the left, Ed's Trail (East Side of the ridge), and came back on the Silver Star Trail (West Side of the ridge). Both sides had a great variety of flowers. We also had tons of Butterflies, at least 11 species.
The trail starts at the end of FR 4109, no pass required here, and high clearance vehicle is recommened.

Dave Hayden
dtvhm AT nwrain.com
Centralia, WA



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