Sisters offers wildflower beauty
By Sue Anderson

Wildflower lovers get ready! The abundant moisture we have experienced
this winter will translate to a banner year for wildflower color and profusion.
Here are two trips to get you started:

Three Creek Meadow area: Turn south on Elm Street in Sisters and begin the steady climb toward the mountains. You’ll start out in sagebrush lowlands and within a few miles find yourself in mixed pine and fir forests. Near the end of the road, before you reach Three Creek Lake, beautiful Trapper Meadow will appear on your right.

Turn right at the first intersection and right again into the small campground.

Wildflowers, starting in mid-June, grow and enliven the meadow with every color of the rainbow. Three particularly rare species are worth searching for. The first is Elephanthead. This appropriately named member of the figwort family has purplish pink flowers clustered on stalks that, with a little imagination, resemble miniature trunks and ears of elephants. You can’t mistake it because it looks so different and it usually grows in wetter areas in company with Monkeyflowers.

Another stream bank favorite is Ladies’ Tresses. These delicate-looking orchids resemble lovely, white, braided hair and grow, like the Elephantheads, on tall stalks. The last of the trio is a rare specimen called Newberry’s Gentian.

The rich purple tubular flowers of this beauty manifest themselves toward the end of July when others are fading.

Because of past abuse by off-road vehicle users, the meadow needed massive restoration work and is still healing.

If you whetted your appetite in the Three Creek area and want to range a little further afield, you might want to consider a trip to Iron Mountain in the older Cascades.

Drive west from Sisters on Highway 126/20 until you come to a major junction (past Hoodoo). Take the left fork (Hwy. 20) then, at the next junction soon afterwards, stay on Hwy. 20 to the right (signs will say to “Sweet Home”). Continue for about seven miles until, at the top of a hill, you’ll see the parking lot for the Iron Mountain trail on your left. There are restrooms and a place to register here. The trailhead is back across the highway and down the hill a little ways.

One of the reasons that this trail is so popular with hikers is that the steady climb keeps ascending through different habitats, each with its new and colorful set of flowers. More than 275 species of wildflowers call this unique place home.

Here are a few of the more showy wildflowers to look for: Cardwell’s Penstemon (large purple tubular flowers), Washington Lily (tall, creamy white to purple), Mountain Cat’s Ear (three large off-white petals with a yellow center), Scarlet Gilia (brilliant red tubular flowers on a stalk — favorite of the hummingbirds), Rock Penstemon, Indian Paintbrush (reddish-orange growing in bushy clumps), Menzie’s Delphinium (deep purple with white centers), Blue Flax, Bleeding Heart (pale pink, in shady areas), and Cascade Aster (pale purple composite favored by the many butterflies on the mountain).

At the summit is an inactive USFS lookout, a good place to rest, eat your lunch, and take in the view.

The first week in July is usually the peak of the breathtaking display. Be sure to take your camera, binoculars, and lots of water. An excellent field guide is “Wildflowers of the Western Cascades” by Ross and Chambers.