We paddled across Kamloops Lake and landed on the beach in front of Painted Bluffs Provincial Park.   From the shoreline, we hiked up the slope, crossed the tracks, then followed the draingage into the bluffs.   We hiked a bit in the hills, but we were mindful of afternoon winds on the lake so we kept our explorations short.   We have done this paddle and hike a few times in the past and a small number of photos are shared here of the wildflowers and plants that we have found.

The eroded ridges and gullies are colorful because of the iron, copper, and cinnabar in the silts and gravels.   This is also a toxic blend so there is almost no growth on the ridges and limited plant life at the bottom.

Some scrub grasses and rabbit brush grows in the outwash silts below the bluffs.

There was very vegetation growing on the barren slopes.

In the summer, we have come across blazing star growing on gravely slopes.

On the shoreline above the high water line, posing ivy grows in the Ice Age deposited gravels.

We have encountered oenothera in bloom in the same area below the bluffs.

The flowers were spent on our visit in September, but the seed heads were plentiful so I collected some seed for a late spring sowing.

On the beach a number of cockleburr plants were growing and the burrs were progeressing for later seed dispersal.

Some of last year’s burrs were still standing on dried stalks.

We were in to Painted Bluffs 5x in the last two years but we will return again in 2020 in spring to witness the natural spectacle of the park.