I drove the bumpy backroads to Badger Lake then paddled the lake.   Yellow water lilies were blooming on the back lagoons of Spooney Lake.    On the drive back, I drove down the Orchard Lake Road and made several stops to view wildflowers in glades on the way back down to the highway.

On this day there was red columbine (Aquilegia formosa), tiger lilies (Lilium columbianum), false solomon’s-seal (Smilacena racemosa), wild roses, thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), birds-foot trefoil (Lotus denticulatis), northern bedstraw (Galium boreale), paintbrush (Castlleja sp.) and oxeye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare sp.).

All photos by the author, from that day.    Click an image for a lightbox view and a caption.    Can you identify some of these without a caption?

paintbrush

yellow water-lily

yellow water-lily

salmonberry

prickly rose

columbine

bird's-foot trefoil

columbine

false solonon's-seal

tiger lily

northern bedstraw

oxeye daisy

Badger lake lies at 1091m (3579 ft.) and the road down descends to 264 m (856 ft.) , but the majority of the wildflowers were found in open spots in the 700 – 1000m elevation zone.   I will back up in the general area to paddle and hike more routes this month.

A few moments at Badger Lake are found in this YouTube video: