We hiked from Lac du Bois up to the top of the Opax Mountain lava cliffs, then traversed across the rim to the east side, completing a 12+ km rugged loop.   Along the way were an abundance of wildflowers, some of which are featured here.

At the elevation of Lac du Bois and Hanging Valley, sticky geranium (geranium viscosissimum) was just coming into flower.  In earlier times, some herbalists made a powder from the roots of this plant as a remedy to improve blood clotting.   The fused styles prompted the name “geranium” (crane’s bill).

With so much rain, the tracks by the lake had lots of standing water and star-flowered false solomon’s seal (smilacina stelata) was in bloom and frequented by pollinators.   The plant can be propagated from rhizome cuttings.

With such a wet spring, various fungi were spotted in the forest, ahead of the usual annual schedule of sightings.

Agoseris was common on the open south-facing rocky slopes.   there are several similar agoseris species with either yellow, orange, or even pink flowers.   We spotted the pink variety on the upper slopes of Tod Mountain in July.

Fescue sandwort  (arenaria capillaris) was frequently spotted with many flower clusters at the ends of slender stems and above linear basal leaves.

This was the first time we have spotted naked broomrape (orbanche uniflora) in bloom in our area.   It was abundant in the seep zones on top of the lava cliffs.  It is a parasitic plant, often known to feed on sedum, which was abundant in the open areas.

Small-flowered blue-eyed Mary (collinsia parviflora) is hard to photograph because it is so small.   It is a good candidate for a tripod and a zoom lens, only attempted in good light.

The whole slope was covered in stonecrops (sedum lanceolatum).

Spikemosses grew on the wet ground.   In this image, this year’s growth is mixed with last year’s and a stonecrop is pushing through the foliage,

In open glades, showy jacob’s ladder (polemonium pulcherrimum) was in full bloom. Although the habit of the perennial can be weedy, the individual flowers are exquisite.

In the open forest calypso orchids (calypso bulbosa) were clustered in sheltered spots.   It is sometimes called fairyslipper.

Chocolate lilies (fritillaria lanceolata) were still in bloom in mid-June.

Chickweed (cerastium arvense) was flowering at lower elevations.   Filmy white notched petals make this a distinctive wildflower.

Blue clematis (clematis occidentalis sp.) blooming in the shaded areas of gullies (feet in the shade and wet with heads in the sun gardeners say).

On the return trip down the mountain, Canada violets (viola canadenis) peeked out above wet soils.

The open slopes above the lava cliffs were very interesting with a thin layer of soil over rock, but with seep zones running down to the rim, overlooking south-facing cliffs, an area worth more exploration, bookmarked for another day.