Rainier’s Flowers

Unless there’s a real heat wave in the near future, I suspect there are going to be an awful lot of disappointed Mt. Rainier lovers because there’s so much snow

Paradise Meadows

at Paradise that the flower meadows are, to say the least, disappointing. And from what I was told, it’s even less promising at Sunrise on the north side of the mountain.

There were so few areas free of snow that I wondered if the rangers had actually cleared some snow so that there would at least be meadows directly around the visitors center. So, for instance, we were able to enjoy the lupine

Lupine

and Veronica

Veronica

while we ate our lunch on the patio. There was even one small Indian Paintbrush showing, but I found the best displays far below Paradise

,

Indian Paintbrush

while walking beside the road. In fact, I would venture to say that the very best flower displays were along the lower roadways. If I hadn’t been following Tyson and Jen, I would have stopped and gotten some shots of beautiful Tiger Lilies I saw beside the road on the way home.

Some of the best flowers could also be found along the trails, where I found a long stretch of Bluebells,

Bluebells

and even more impressive, white banks covered in delicate Avalanche Lilies.

Avalanche Lily

Down at Longmire, we ran into fields full of bright yellow “dandellions” and Daisies,

Daisy

which seemed to best reflect the day’s sunshine.

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