My pursuit of wildflower hikes in Oregon started 3 years after we setup camp in this side of the world.
First up was Kings Mountain - known more for its grade (2500ft in 2.4 miles) than its wildflowers. It was local lore that pointed me to this place for wildflowers.
The hike started as a nice big family event, with tall dense ferns engulfing us.
The hike then turned much steeper, and the trail was full of loose gravel - okay to climb up, but downhill was going to prove treacherous. At ~800ft, the family gave up and decided to head back. It was me, my 45-lb "backpack" and my buddy, for the next 1500 ft.
The first sign of real "wildflowers" wasn't until a gruelling 1000ft more of climbing. The forest cover gave way to patches of meadows, and Lupines and whatever-elses started appearing.
The first of the beargrasses then came up, close to the summit (or so we thought).
Every fellow hiker coming back down the trail gave varied estimates of 15-min to 45-min to the summit. It wasn't until 3 grueling hours after we started, that the real summit showed up.
But when it did, the views and the flora put a smile on my face. The chatterbox on my back kept story-telling non-stop.
There were endless layers of mountain ranges on pretty much all sides, with Mount Hood seemingly suspended in air like an ice-cream cone.
More flowers put up their vibrant display, but the best of them was what I'd call "Beargrass Garden".
After a quick snunch (a snack-lunch is all we had), it was time to get back to senses and scurry back down the 2500ft. And boy was it tricky going downhill, esp. with the extra 45lbs on my back. The gravel did its best to bring us down, but the quads held on to their last ounces of braking power.
We finally completed the descent in half the time as the ascent. WHAT A HIKE! (the legs were to suffer for another 3 days).
First up was Kings Mountain - known more for its grade (2500ft in 2.4 miles) than its wildflowers. It was local lore that pointed me to this place for wildflowers.
The hike started as a nice big family event, with tall dense ferns engulfing us.
After a while, fellow-hikers could easily disappear into the fern-forest.
A little later, we could see carpets of green and white (no idea what these flowers are called).
The hike then turned much steeper, and the trail was full of loose gravel - okay to climb up, but downhill was going to prove treacherous. At ~800ft, the family gave up and decided to head back. It was me, my 45-lb "backpack" and my buddy, for the next 1500 ft.
The first sign of real "wildflowers" wasn't until a gruelling 1000ft more of climbing. The forest cover gave way to patches of meadows, and Lupines and whatever-elses started appearing.
Every fellow hiker coming back down the trail gave varied estimates of 15-min to 45-min to the summit. It wasn't until 3 grueling hours after we started, that the real summit showed up.
But when it did, the views and the flora put a smile on my face. The chatterbox on my back kept story-telling non-stop.
More flowers put up their vibrant display, but the best of them was what I'd call "Beargrass Garden".
After a quick snunch (a snack-lunch is all we had), it was time to get back to senses and scurry back down the 2500ft. And boy was it tricky going downhill, esp. with the extra 45lbs on my back. The gravel did its best to bring us down, but the quads held on to their last ounces of braking power.
We finally completed the descent in half the time as the ascent. WHAT A HIKE! (the legs were to suffer for another 3 days).
Wonderful photos! I have visited Kings Mountain once, but there was no beargrass at the time. I shall try to return!
ReplyDeleteThose were all from my iPhone. That thing does a pretty decent job after all.
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