I have been traveling to the Ashcroft area annually in May for a few years now, coinciding with the bitterroot (Lewisia redviva) bloom.   In most years the bitterroot is at its height with thousands of flowering plants on dry and sunny slopes in the area.   The day was drizzly and cool so the bitterroots were mostly closed and laying low.    Bitterroots like warm and dry conditions.   There were other wildflowers on the dry, rocky slopes, some of which are included here in a slideshow.    I have included two photos from last year’s visit on a warm and sunny day.

In the slideshow are bitterroot (Lewisia redviva), blanket flower (Gaillardia aristata), Euphorbia esula, woolypod milkvetch (Astralagus purshii), salsify (Tragopogon dubius), parsnip-flowered buckwheat (Eriogonum heracleoides), and trailing fleabane (Erigeron flagellaris).

Next year’s visit to the area will be in a period of dryer weather.