On a recent hike along the Slab Camp Trail out of Deer Park in the Olympic National Forest, we found that there was a lot of Olympic Onion in bloom. I had hiked this trail a number of times, but not usually this early in the season. I was delighted to see that the Olympic Onion was quite widespread in places. (see hillside below) I was pleased especially since these are not far from a very popular car campground and I was afraid that campers may have harvested many of them.
I recently did a day drive up to Hurricane Ridge In Olympic National Park. The road runs up into the alpine area, which makes it nice if you are carrying a bunch of camera equipment. The top photo is looking south into the center of the park and the Elwha River valley. The end of June is a good time for wild flowers, since most of the snow has left. I was able to find a trail where I was by myself and not packed in with all the other folks (they were mostly hiking trails near the main parking lot or Hurricane Hill).
The second image is Olympic Onion, which is described as being rare. I’ve seen it a few times and it smells strongly of onion. Since I’ve never seen it in huge masses, I’ve never harvested any for enhancing the flavor of my backpacking food. (although it sure would help)
Third image is larkspur … which competes with lupine in the blue/purple assemblage.
