On a warm mid-May morning I hiked for 2 hours on a grasslands-benchland, sometimes known as the Lower Rose area.   It was a combination of hiking-exercise and a nature-hike.   There were no other people on the trails, but the area is also used by dog-walkers, hikers, and mountain bikers at busier times.    there were a few birds in the open forest on the north-facing slope and in the many gullies.    The loop route climbs ridges, crosses gullies, and has lots of up-and-down.    Along the way I stopped to enjoy wildflowers and other plants, insects, and wildlife.   Shared here are some photos taken on the hike of flowering plants:   meadow salsify (Tragopodon pratenis), bastard toadflax (Comandra umbellata), Thompson’s paintbrush (Catilleja thompsonii), death camas (Toxicoscordion venenosum), upland larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum), lemonweed (Lithospermum ruderale), field locoweed (Oxytropis campestris), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), spineless horsebrush (Tetradymia canescens), low pussytoes (Antennaria dimorpha), and alumroot (Heuchera cylindrica).

A Google Photos album is embedded as a slideshow:

More information on some of these can be found in posts on this website:

• upland larkspur
• meadow death camas
• lemonweed
• alumroot

Upcoming posts will be added for more regional wildflowers over time.