The Olympics

 

 July14-16 we were in Olympic National Park for some hiking and sightseeing.  We visited a number of our favorite places including Ruby Beach, the Hoh Rainforest, Hurricane Ridge, Lake Crescent and Deer Park.  We did one shorter hike along the Hoh River and one longer hike along Lillian Ridge and down to Grant Lake.  It was not meant to be an orchid-hunting trip but we did find a number of orchids which I've posted here.

Epipactis gigantea (Chatterbox or Stream Orchid)

 

Piperia (Platanthera) elegans (Elegant Piperia)

Neottia banksiana (Northwestern Twayblade)

Piperia (Platanthera) unalascensis (Alaskan Piperia)

Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata (Tall White Northern Bog Orchis)

Platanthera dilatata var. leucostachys (Sierra Rein Orchis)

Heliotrope Ridge

 

2020 has not been a good year for native orchids, mostly because of covid.  We have not been able to do the hiking we usually do and many of our hikes have been in areas that were not shut down but had few or no native orchids.  We did manage a hike in the North Cascades to Heliotrope Ridge near Mount Baker but saw only three orchids, a Twayblade, which we saw along the trail and two Platantheras, which we saw at the traihead in a boggy area.

 

Neottia cordata var. nephrophylla (Western Heart-leaved Twayblade)

Platanthera stricta (Slender Bog Orchis)

Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata (White Bog Orchis)

Yellow Lady's Slippers near Lake Huron

 

In June we visited Michigan to see family and friends there.  While in Michigan we went with one of our sons and his wife for a two day drive along the Michigan shore of Lake Huron.  While driving some of the back roads and doing some hiking we were excited to see the Large Yellow Lady's Slipper in several different locations.  We had not seen many orchids yet because of the covid outbreak and so were thankful that we could add these to our list of orchids for 2020.

Orchids on Fidalgo Island

 

Because of the covid outbreak were not able to visit many of our favorite orchid hunting location this year.  Most of the state parks and national forests were closed until late in the summer and the city parks also.  We had to do most of our hiking in areas where there were no orchids and that were close to home.  We did manage to visit Washington Park in Anacortes in late May but by that time the Fairy Slippers were nearly finished and we only saw a couple of them along with a few Coralroots.

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis (Western Fairy Slipper)

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis (Western Spotted Coralroot)

End of the Season Summary

2019 was another year in which we did a lot less hunting of native orchids than in years past.  In October of 2017, after major surgery, I retired and we moved to eastern Washington near Spokane.  We bought a house that was a short sale and spent a great deal of our spare time in 2018 and 2019 working on the house and getting it into livable shape, most of the work done by one of our sons who is a builder.  We also had our daughter and son-in-law move to Spokane in early 2019 and they lived with us for about four months.

 

 

 

 

We did manage a long trip through Washington, Oregon and into northern California, visiting many of our favorite orchid sites along the way.  I also led a field trip for the Washington Native Plant Society but it was a very dry spring and summer and there was not much in bloom at that time.  We saw nothing we had not seen before but did see some rarities including the albino form of the Mountain Lady's Slipper (shown above), the hybrid of the Mountain Lady's Slipper and the Northern Yellow Lady's Slipper and the very rare hybrid of the two varieties of the Fairy Slipper.

We hope to do more next year but we shall have to see since I have been very much busier as of late.

Orchid Hunting in Northern California and Oregon

Continuing our trip through Washington, Oregon and northern California, we visited a favorite site in California where we photographed both the Few-flowered Rein Orchis, Platanthera sparsiflora, and the California Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium californicum, both of which have a decided preference for wet, serpentine soils.  We found both in abundance and also found a few Phantom Orchids, Cephalanthera austiniae.  At a site in Oregon on our way back we found Epipactis gigantea, the Stream Orchid or Chatterbox.

Platanthera sparsiflora

Few-flowered Rein Orchis

Cypripedium californicum

California Lady's Slipper

 

Cephalanthera austiniae

Phantom Orchid

 

 

Epipactis gigantea

Stream Orchid