We woke up to a beautiful crisp morning in the Centennial Mountain meadows at RedRock RV Park. No clouds, and the air was as clear as it gets. Last night dipped to 28F after several 48F nights and 75F days.

I grabbed my wildflower camera (with flash ring) and Reggie and I headed for meadow #1, down Red Rock road a tad to check on nature's progress in the last two days since we've visited. The walk down the road was quiet, save the occasionally Raven squawk, with not a vehicle to pass us in almost a mile. I wasn't disappointed in our visit, though I had to look closely. Many of the flowers are tiny, especially in the first days of their life cycle.

The Glacier Lily continues to be the dominant flower there with new blooms every day. Their bright yellow petals are a joy to see in such numbers. Each flower is slightly different in shape than the other. Their oblong green fleshy leaves seem to be a holy shroud which sits below each flower hoisted high above as in homage to something divine. Their long stamens are often bright red hanging down from the flower as if bell clappers.

The first new flower to catch my eye was the Upland Yellow Violet (Viola praemorsa). This is also known as the goosefoot violet. It is a very small plant and flower that blooms after the first snow melts as evidenced by my find. The flower is about 1/2" wide and the plant only a few inches tall. I found it growing in meadow #1 on a slope exposed to morning sun. There are only a few specimens at the moment. Probably due to the cold night and early time of day, most of the flowers were drooping their heads down. I'm not sure about the classification hower. It could be the valley violet as well (Viola vallicola) though I do believe it's the upland yellow violet as described.


As I mentioned in my last trip to this meadow, the shooting stars were starting to bloom. They continue their growth. I found this one specimen growing up and through an Oregon Grape that had turned red (from last season). It makes for quite a contrast in colors, doesn't it?


Speaking of the Oregon Grape, I found several specimens starting to put out buds. This plant eventually has attractive little yellow flowers followed by dark purple "grapes" later in the season. This is not closely related to grapes, but is called so because of the clusters of purple fruits or berries it produces. (It's also the state flower of Oregon.)

This plant is interesting in how it's leaves die and form beautiful colors from bright red to orange to brown to several shades of green. I believe it keeps most of it's leaves from year to year though.



I almost missed this little guy. I'm not sure what it is but it resembles Nutall's Rockcrest. It has four-lobed white flowers drooping from the top of a stalk and a lancet shaped leaf with spines on it. Only a couple flowers are opened in this picture.

Another tiny plant that I discovered while crawling around on my knees to photograph the Shooting Star is the Blubous Woodland Star (Lithophragma glabrum). This little flower produces bright red buds that open into little white/purple star shaped flowers. They sit on top of a long stalk and often have more than one flower per stalk. You have to look carefully for this little guy because he gets missed easily. It's found only in the western United States.


On the slope with morning sun I also found the first specimens of the soon to be ubiquitous Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) wildflower. This has a large daisy like yellow flower when mature but now has a meek looking unfurled flower. The leaves are arrow shaped. (I haven't dug up the roots to see what is meant by Balsam root.) You'll see this throughout the forest soon. It tends to grow by itself (as opposed to the mule ears that look similar but grow in large groups together) and these accent the area with bright yellow/orange flowers.

The Vase Flower continues to open and I found this first specimen this morning that was fully open. You can see up into the vase and it's smooth inner purple parts and yellow stamens.


I stumbled (literally) on this lichen encrusted flat rock among the wildflowers. It was ever bit as colorful and beautiful to me as the wildflowers. The lichen are just another form of life competing for the sunlight and nutrients that are found in the forest.

On the way back I snapped this shot of the aspens against the Douglas Fir along Red Rock Road. The aspens continue to grow their leaves and green up nicely. Please plan to come and see us if you can. RedRock RV park is a great base to explore the natural world including the flowers, birds, mammals, geology and scenery.