We hiked across Red Plateau in the second half of October.   There was a thin coat of ice on the ponds as we went through forest to the rim of the south-aspect Escarpment.   A few plants were untouched by frost on the rocky lava flow ridges.

Lanceolate sedum was abundant on the gravelly dry exposed slopes.  It is a succelent perennial with lance-shaped leaves, mostly at the base.  It flowers in late spring with bright yellow lanceolate petals.

 

 

On one section of the Castle Butte ridge star moss (tortula ruralis) was intermixed with the sedums.   It can be found in a wide variety of ecosystems and survives dessication in dry years.

 

Mats of star moss grew on one gravelly open slope

Few flowers were seen at this elevation (1294m or 4245 feet), but there was a cutleaf daisy in flower.

 

On barren slopes with lava rock and iron oxides a few northern bedstraw plants had set seed for next year.

On the route in and back out, a massive boulder, probably a volcanic projectile,  stood on its end in the forest.   Green mosses covered the north side and lichens covered the whole rock surface anywhere else.

 

We try to hike this trail in late spring too to coincide with the Okanagon fameflower bloom on the escarpment ridges.   Check back here in June for a report