The Washington State Hiking Podcast

The Best Alpine Wildflower hikes in Washington State

• Jennie Thwing Flaming and Craig Romano • Episode 73

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Jennie Flaming:

Jennie, welcome to the Washington State hiking podcast. I'm your host. Jennie Thwing Flaming,

Craig Romano:

and I'm your co host, Craig Romano, Craig

Jennie Flaming:

and I are happy to have you here. We provide practical and timely, seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners and potential hikers and trail runners of all skill and ability levels that is helpful, accurate, fun and inclusive. Well, hey everybody today we are talking about peak summer Alpine wildflower hikes. And before we dive in, just want to mention that Washington also has many amazing spring wildflower hikes. Those are in different places. We've talked about them before. We I'm sure we'll talk about them again, but what we're talking about today is our favorite Alpine wildflower hikes for this magical mid and late summer time. So hey, Craig,

Craig Romano:

hey Jennie. I love, I love the Alpine wild flowers. It's again, you know, I haven't spent a lot of time in the Rockies, so I so I understand places like in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado are supposed to be incredible. But I'll tell you some of the best I've seen is right here in the Cascades. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming:

and that's something that we're really known for here in Washington, especially Mount Rainier National Park around wildflowers. But of course, you everyone listening knows by now that we're gonna have many different ideas besides the ones everybody's already heard about, although maybe we'll talk about those two anyway. So Craig, what are some of your your favorites? Yeah,

Craig Romano:

so I know where you want to start. You know, because I love to send people off the beaten path. And again, if you live in Spokane, you probably already know this, but two of the best wildflower hikes in in in the state are in eastern Washington, and there's and there's some of the highest summits over there. So I'm going to send you to the kettle river range. So many times copper Butte, which is the highest mountain in the range. It's 7140 feet. It's just covered in flowers. So the thing is, you don't want to wait too late in the summer here. 10 is a little hotter and drier there. So the flowers are going to be a little bit earlier, like Rainier. You know, August is still good July. July is going to be a much better time be over here. So copper Butte is spectacular right next to it. WAPA Lucy is another one really good for flowers, and that they could start in May and June area, and then Abercrombie Mountain, which is the second highest summit in eastern Washington. This is right above the ponderay River. High Mountain, not, not a long hike you start up. It can be if you do it from the crazy way, but if you do it the way in my in my 100 classic hikes book or day hiking Eastern Washington to shorter hike to get up there. Really beautiful for wildflowers in that area. And then Hall Mountain, which is across from Sullivan is another one. It's good for flowers. So check out those in the eastern part, closer to where most of most of you guys live, out here in the Cascades. If you've ever been to Green Mountain, Green Mountain, which is just a ridiculous name for this mountain,

Jennie Flaming:

it's another one. There's more than one Green Mountain. And

Craig Romano:

yeah, so I have to clarify that, right, which, again, I wish we need to start. I mean, there's been a big move to get rid of a lot of the offensive names off for mountains, which I totally agree with. But we also need to get rid of the battle names, you know, all the goats and the greens. And let's, let's, maybe we could turn it into a fundraiser for our parks, or something that you get, you know, I don't know. Anyways, this is the Green Mountain off the Suva river, so it had a fire lookout in this area. It's one of my 100 classic hikes. The flowers are spectacular. On this one, the valerium, it's incredible. So again, any season hiker knows where there's flowers there are bugs, because what pollinates those flowers, so be prepared for biting insects go up on a windy day. If you have that preference, cooler and windy day will certainly, certainly help on that goat rocks, snow, grass, meadow in that area, flowery, just, just amazing. Cispus Basin, which is much quieter, incredible Flower, flower meadow areas in there. And another place, again, off the beaten path, if you go to Mount Adams, you know, everyone Mount Rainier code, Adams Creek Meadows is absolutely stunning to get up there. That's another one of my 100 classic hikes. A lot of people, of course, do the climb. So check Adam Creek Meadow is really, really spectacular. And then just even along the ridges in the North Cascades, one of my favorite areas for long trail runs and and hikes are in the Henry M Jackson wilderness to run Tish pan gap. That's kind of like the the center of it. And I have several, several long loops that I do that already. They all kind of. Intersect there. So going pilot Ridge, the Blue Lake area, which is near Johnson mountain, West Katy ridge. Katy Ridge, incredible flower areas. Matter of fact, Katy Ridge is the front cover of my day hiking central cascades books, all flower so benchmark mountain, White Pass, red pass. That entire region is just nothing but long ridges and open meadows for miles. So if you're backpacking, you spend days just frolicking in there, some of my favorite, favorite wildflower hikes in the state. So definitely, definitely start, I think I've given you a lot of miles of places, yeah,

Jennie Flaming:

for other people, are going to be backpacking trips, yeah, not date day hikes,

Craig Romano:

like trail runs too. I've done, yeah, they're, they're couple. My favorite 2020, to 30 mile loops, yeah, yeah, stuff, yeah,

Jennie Flaming:

um, I'm curious, Craig, what since Mount Rainier National Park is so known for its wildflowers, I'm curious what your favorite wildflower hike is in the park.

Craig Romano:

Yeah, there's a lot that's funny. Grand Park is spectacular, yeah, tell people how to get there, yeah, talk about the the shortcut way, which I'm opposed to. I really have a problem with that people, because they there's a lot of illegal things, yeah, well, let's keep it legal. So I come in from from sun, from sunrise, yeah, it's only that way. That's the the official way to come in. So sunrise, a long hike to come in, but not, not difficult. Elevation was long. You can do it in a day hike, but you can get your permits at camp, and even if you don't make it that far, Berkeley pass, yeah. Berkeley Park, which is on the way, is flower. And even sunrise itself is great. It's not as it's not as flowery as Paradise because drier, but it's also not as crowded. So I do like I do like that side of the mountain much better than I do the paradise side, yeah.

Jennie Flaming:

And even just that area around frozen lake, which is like half a mile, three quarters of a mile from the parking lot, there are beautiful wildflowers in that little meadow right there, and that's very close to the parking

Craig Romano:

area. And probably, you know, one of the best places for flowers in this area. It's just outside the park. Is in the tattoo wilderness, yeah, south. You know, I talked about Packwood earlier. So definitely pack would be great if you're staying in pack woods, a great place to access this trail from you're going to do like, a 10 Mile ridge of just all open the flowers are incredible tattoos. It's, it's one of my 100 classic hikes, also absolutely spectacular for but even for shorter, just up to, was it the pinnacle saddle? Yeah, some good flowers in there. It's a short hike to get in there in the tattoos range. But certainly don't, don't skip paradise. I mean, if you've never, certainly if you've never been there, just be, be prepared for a lot of people. And again, we should emphasize, stay on the trails in this area. Zoom in your lenses. You know, leave, leave the tramping on the meadows to the marmots. So everything is marked in an area. There are paved trails there that you can get in there that for easier walking, give it, but definitely it's really important, because if you go off trail trampling, certainly if you pick the flowers to it, I mean, it's the person next next to the line's not gonna be so don't do that. So don't do that again. If you're a marmot, I'm okay with that. Marmots like to eat lupines and things, yes, so, so yep, if you identify as a marmot, no good. You got to be a marmot. Okay? So,

Jennie Flaming:

yes, you know it's, it's so important, as we've talked about this many times so far, and especially in 2025 it's just so important right now to for us to make sure people know what those expectations are, and really implore people to follow those rules. Since our public lands are really, really under stress more than ever, it's just so important that we're protecting those wildflower meadows.

Craig Romano:

I know we've talked about this before too. Unfortunately, there's always going to be people are going to take advantage of these situations. I know, because the rules don't apply to them, and now, with the lack of enforcement, they think they can get away with it, and they probably can, but morally, you're not getting away with ethically, don't do it. It's not right. Set a good example. Set a good example to your children, to the others, how to really take care of the land. Be good stewards, really. We need to, we need to shine above. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming:

absolutely. I completely agree. I think, you know, for me, a favorite wildflower hike in Mount Rainier National Park would be a tie between spray park over on the Mowich lake side and the Natchez peak loop, which

Craig Romano:

is peak is great and it's on

Jennie Flaming:

highway 410, the Chinook i. One of my classes, pass, yeah, it's a wonderful hike. It's really, really busy. I mean, Chinook pass is just bananas during the day, but I have done the loop like in the evening, late day. Yeah, rhyme, wildfire season, like August, 3, Saturday, right? But if you show up there at 5pm It's going to be light till nine, right? You need to make sure to have a headlamp. But it's such a fantastic very, very buggy, I mean, like head nut level bugs, but that's okay. It's so worth it. And even just around tip Sue Lake and along the road, the flowers are beautiful. And if you do the loop, it's even better. One thing you know, since we've been talking about trail etiquette and rules and how important those are right now, couple things I want to mention. The outhouses at Chinook pass are horrible. So consider a stop before you get there.

Craig Romano:

You just can't keep up with the

Jennie Flaming:

even in normal time. Yeah, whatever normal is. And the other thing is that this, if you do the loop, which is about a four mile loop, half of it is on the Pacific Crest Trail, and the other half is in the park. So it's confusing when it comes to dogs, because dogs are not allowed on the Mount Rainier National Park part of the trail, but they are on the Pacific Crest Trail. So if you're bringing your dog with you. Make sure, of course, that they're on a leash, but also just know that you can still do this hike, just not the whole loop, right? So when you get around to basically about halfway back, then you have to turn around and come back the way you came. But that's a great option. So that would be one. And for spray park, I mentioned the last week that some of my favorite hikes for this time of year involve a long gravel road. That's the case with spray park. You've got to drive up to March lake and then go from there. It's very remote, no cell service for like an hour or more getting up there. But spray park is an amazing Well,

Craig Romano:

and, you know, I just just, you just reminded me, honestly, about spray park, which is one of the best places, another one of the best places for wildflowers in Rainier and it's, it's, it's a longer hiking you can get there, either by the Wonderland or Cox Creek. Is Indian, Henry's Indian. Henry's hunting ground is absolutely stunning. The flowers in there. And if you're doing it from Cotts Creek too, you're going to be on a long ridge to come down, and you're kind of coming down into into Indian Henry with Rainier in the back, and the old Ranger guard station there. The flowers are absolutely incredible in there. So that's a good place. And same thing, if you're on a backpack or your strong hiker trailer, getting into going beyond, going towards the sunset, Sunset Park, yeah. And then Aurora, Aurora Lake. In that area, kopaci is gorge. There's some incredible areas in the crowds definitely thin out in the air because you're away from road access. One of the tricks you can do, if you not backpacking the West Side road, you can mountain bike. So you can mountain bike that road, yeah, and then yeah, day hikes into those areas from from the feeder trails. Yeah, it's still going to be a good workout, but, but you can get in there, and then you have some nice downhill coming out on the road, which makes it a little bit easier. Yep, yeah, those are, I mean, Rainier is definitely supreme when it comes to to wildflower heights. But certainly, you know, look at Adams. Look at the goat rocks, look at Baker. A lot of these areas you're gonna, you're gonna get some incredible flower displays as well.

Jennie Flaming:

Yeah, and a couple others I wanted to mention over in the Olympics. So one hurricane Ridge has some pretty great wildflowers. And you know, you can drive there, and you can also hike again, stay on the trail. Honey Ridge is a replacement Kahani Ridge hurricane Hill. Some really nice flowers up there. And then another one that I really love for wildflowers is Mount Townsend,

Unknown:

yeah, the Olympic Peninsula, alpine tundra. The flowers are they're not. It's like carpets of it, it's dry, no, but the flowers, what wouldn't it the coolest things about the northeastern part of of the Olympics is that you have Piper's bellflower there, which is one of the endemics. It grows nowhere else in the world, and it's all on Mount Townsend and over towards in throughout the Buckhorn wilderness. Same thing Mark, if you go to Marmot pass, Marmot pass isn't really wide open, but if you continue your hike going down, you. Towards into the dungeon s Valley, or going towards tubal cane. Matter of fact, the hike above tubal K mine is miles of beautiful flowers. And I was just in there last summer. Again, I forget how much I love that. I've been in there many, many times. It's spectacular. It's a spectacular hike for wildflowers. So July. July is a great time to be in there for

Jennie Flaming:

that. Yeah, Craig, what's your favorite Washington Wildflower?

Craig Romano:

Well, that's a good no one's ever asked me. Intro, I love the hair bells. I mean, they're gorgeous. The Columbine, the elephant's head, yeah, which is actually not a flower, right? It's a, it's a, well, yeah, elephants head, is that an orchid flower? It's a lost word, or or, I think it's a lost word, but yeah, I guess technically, it's

Jennie Flaming:

a flower. It's pretty. It's a plant.

Craig Romano:

Of course, I love rhododendrons, which are spent by this time they come out. They come out in May. And then the Gentians, of course, at the end, the last, the last of bloom, those bog engines are, are gorgeous. So in your boggy, wet areas, they're going to come out in August, which is, I just thought, I just thought, one of the best places to for wild flowers, I doesn't even think of it, is Little Giant pass over the people, and it's welcome. The flowers up there are incredible. Yeah, because I, because I said I was in there was the fall. The fall is absolutely spectacular too, but I forgot being in the summertime. Yeah, it's quite split. And then Flower Dome, hence the name off of Buck Creek pass, if you're in the glacier peak area. And it's not, it's not really a day hike. It's more of a backpack backpacking trip, miners, Ridge, same thing for backpacking, which is near image, lake, a lot of those areas backpacking, the flowers are stunning. In there, absolutely stunning.

Jennie Flaming:

Yeah, my, my favorite is avalanche lilies, um, gorgeous, yeah. But they're, they're like, they're

Unknown:

hard to see

Jennie Flaming:

because you have to catch them right as the snow is, which is part of what I love about them. Um, but spray park is a great place for avalanche LIS because, of course, that time is like now, you know the snow is just pulling back and

Craig Romano:

got away for the melting that's going to be various, one of the best places ever seen. The Absolutely, I mean, just miles, miles is Johnson Ridge, Scorpion Mountain, which is off of Beckler so skycomish, near Stevens Pass. Yeah, it's incredible. There's a whole part of the ridge. South exposure usually melts out early June, I'm sorry, early July, late June. Yep, the flowers are I mean, just acres and acres and acres of them, because usually you encounter patches of them, but it means entire slopes of them. So that's one of the best places that I've seen for them. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming:

I also really love Lupin. And I think the reason I love, well, first of all, they're, they're beautiful purple flowers, the fragrance. I love the fragrance of them, but I think what I really love about them is that they grow everywhere. Yeah, they do. You know, you see them in places that were devastated by Mount St Helens. Well, they're

Craig Romano:

they're a pioneer, they're nitrogen fixer. They're one of the first plants to colonize after disturbance. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming:

you see them after a fire. You see them in dry climates. You see them in wet climates. You see them in the alpine you see them in the lowlands. They're just

Craig Romano:

so in the pine they're beautiful forest. You go into these ponderosa pine forest, yeah, so with that red, orange bark, with the purple, and then get the Arnica with that, the the so again, I've just again, more we talk more flowers. Tiffany mountain over North of Winthrop. It's an 8000 foot peak. It's a walk up. It's one of the easiest mountains. At 8000 feet. Flowers are incredible. It's one of the best flower hikes in there. Yeah. I mean, stunning. And now, now I'm saying, I can't believe I didn't think of that absolutely stunning. That whole area in Tiffany, Tiffany Lake, there's, there's other hikes you can do in that area, and it does not get a lot of people. A North 20 Mile is another one in that area, yep, it's an old one of the oldest fire lookouts, flower Bonaparte, another one in the Okanagan Highlands, near to nasket. And then, if you've been into in the Satan, if you get in there silver, Silver Lake. This is off a heart, off a hard pass that's incredible. Just miles and miles of flowers in there and Horseshoe basin, it's just all open bays. And again, really, they and they come out earlier there, because your your snow melt is earlier that part on the extreme east of the North Cascades, yep. You will not be let down for the flower shows at any of those hikes. No,

Jennie Flaming:

no, you will not. All right, everyone, well, hopefully we inspired you to find some new Alpine wildflower hikes in the next month or so, and we will see you next week. If you're enjoying the podcast, we would love to have you leave us a rating or review wherever you're listening. Screen that will really help other people find us. And don't forget, there's a link to Craig's books and my email list in the show notes you.

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Jennie Thwing Flaming

Host
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Craig Romano

Co-host