Well, there's not much photographically happening in my life lately. I've been busy skiing at the usual local resorts that I visit year after year. It hasn't been a stellar snow season so far, so my photo taking has not been as prolific as in years past. Instead of beautiful snowy slopes, there's an abundance of bare patches and rocks sticking out - not really great lens candy. That and I tend to capture the same scenery every year, and I'm sure you're all tired of seeing it on repeat.
So.....since I seem to have run out of current images to post, I'm turning back the pages to last summer when I made numerous hikes on Mt. Hood to capture an amazing beargrass superbloom. Looking through my photo archives, I've come to realize there are lots of colorful wildflower photos from summer 2025 that have yet to be posted, just waiting for an opportunity to shine on my blog pages. So here's the first installment:
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| A beautiful summer day on Mt. Hood! |
Beargrass is a tall plant that produces a poofy white flower. Their stalks sometimes resemble large Q-tips. It's found in mountain meadows where bears are often present, and they are known to feed on the leaf bases. Beargrass follows an irregular blooming schedule. Some years the blooms are more prolific than others, and every 5 to 10 years certain areas experience what's known as a "super bloom."
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| Beargrass superbloom |
Early last July I started hearing reports that the beargrass was blooming quite abundantly in the Mt. Hood area. After a quick hike around the slopes of my local ski area, I confirmed the rumor was true. The sheer amount of white puffy beargrass was so amazing, I recruited my buddy Kim the following week for a return trip.
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| Western Pasque flower seed heads |
Mt. Hood Meadows, my local ski area, opens their slopes to hiking during the off season. It's a great place for a trek - every summer their meadows explode into a colorful frenzy of wildflowers. So it was on a hot day in early July that Kim and I arrived at our winter playground and donned backpacks to explore this place in a different season.
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| More of my favorite mop-head flowers |
Not far from the lodge Kim and I ran into our first beargrass patch, their poofy white heads lining the trail. Kim, who had never before witnessed a superbloom, was quite astonished. But little did she know there was much more wildflower beauty awaiting us!
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| A slope of white and orange |
Our trail led to a meadow chock-full of mop-headed Western Pasque flowers. These wildflowers bloom with white petals, and then transition into a fluffy seed pod that resembles a wild head of hair. This stage is known by many nicknames, but my favorite is "hippy on a stick." We oohed and aahed over these cute wispy flowers and I took copious images.
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| A lovely garden of color |
After walking through a few more gorgeous wildflower meadows we hit the motherlode - an enormous patch of beargrass blooming under the main ski lift. And not only beargrass, orange paintbrush and purple lupine could be found in abundant numbers.
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| Large, fluffy beargrass blooms |
Oh what a wonderful sight! All forward progress ground to a screeching halt, as phones and cameras came out for an extended photo session.
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| A huge flower garden under the ski lift |
Every time Kim and I decided we needed to keep going, we'd round a bend in the trail and there were more wildflowers and another thick patch of beargrass that of course we had to stop and document. This continued for several stops. At this rate, we'd be lucky to finish our hike before dinner!
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| It took us a long time to walk through the flower fields! |
After about an hour of wandering through the flower fields, my friend and I did manage to move on and finish the hike. Happily, my memory card was now stuffed full of beautiful wildflower images. Here's a few more for you all to enjoy:
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| A thick patch of beargrass |
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| More flowery goodness |
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| I couldn't believe the sheer number of beargrass stalks |
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| Another dense patch of beargrass |
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| Some purple lupine just beginning to bloom |
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| Beargrass central |
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| Two happy hikers |
Beargrass superblooms don't happen very often, so I'm glad I made it out to document last summer's wonderful wildflower display. And now, months later in the dead of winter, reliving these images brings me joy. Hope they've made you happy too.
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