Wildflowers?

[Evren]

Has anyone been up to Alta recently? What is the situation with wildflowers -- are they out, expected, etc.?

I was up at Guardsman today:

It is by no means illustrative of what you'll find in BCC overall. It has been a very poor year for wildflowers here (for obvious reasons). I am a little more hopeful for LCC due to the better snowpack there.

[Evren]

Much good you lot were... I ended up dropping into Albion Basin via Brighton & Lakes Mary-Martha-Catherine. The flowers are lookin' pretty good on both Big&Little CC sides. The recent rains have helped put more color on their faces. Here are some pictures from the hike, before the rains. 1&3 on BCC side and 2, above Alta.

[Admin]

Nice shots of Lake Mary, Evren.

Personally, I wasn't helpful because I seldom hike up there in summer. I prefer hiking with my dog whenever possible, so the Cottonwoods are clearly off my list as a result.

[Evren]

>Nice shots of Lake Mary, Evren.
Thank you.

It was a little premature for me to call it a bad year for wildflowers. I was assuming that like everything else, the peak would come much earlier -- and as it was, there weren't many flowers.
Well, I was up at Mill D Trail in BCC and as I completed the circle down Butler Fork trail, especially on that side... it was amazing how much growth there had been in the last couple of weeks. It used to look like the Wasatch up there -- now it looks like a sub-tropical forest. The trail itself, once wide and comfortable, is hemmed in from both sides. And there are flowers, plenty.
Saw a moose and calf, suckling. Then a bull moose, immovable on the trail. We ended up bushwhacking across a hillside to avoid him and I am nursing some semi-nasty rashes today.
If anyone knows the name of the weed that produces a painful sting up in that area (so I can look up pictures and avoid it) I'd be much obliged.

[Admin]

If anyone knows the name of the weed that produces a painful sting up in that area (so I can look up pictures and avoid it) I'd be much obliged.

Stinging nettles.

FYI the Wasatch Wildflower Festival takes place this weekend:
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/2012/0 ... s-weekend/

[Tony Crocker]

I would think in snow intensive places like LCC/BCC a dry year would be better for plants/flowers than a wet year. Nothing's going to sprout until the snow pack is gone, and if it's gone late May instead of late July growth should be better. It's not like there's inadequate moisture in the soil because it snowed 350 inches instead of 500.

[Admin]

I would think in snow intensive places like LCC/BCC a dry year would be better for plants/flowers than a wet year. Nothing's going to sprout until the snow pack is gone, and if it's gone late May instead of late July growth should be better. It's not like there's inadequate moisture in the soil because it snowed 350 inches instead of 500.

It has more to do with how cool and wet a spring and early summer we have. Ours has been painfully hot and dry. And a lingering snowpack also means persistent runoff which we of course have not had, either.

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