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With its
abundant rainfall and mild maritime climate, the Olympic
Peninsula harbors a wide variety of wildflowers. Diverse
habitats support more than 1,400 species of vascular
plants. After the peninsula’s heavy winter rains,
the first warm days of sprint bring coastal areas and
lowland valleys into bloom, and the lowland trails of the
park become lined with blossoms. The wildflower season
extends into late summer as cool, north-facing slopes of
the mountains melt free of winter snow. Charles
Stewart’s Wildflowers of the Olympics and Cascades
is a handy and easy-to-use trailside identification guide
tailored to Northwest flora.
Lowland Forest Wildflower Walks
The Peabody Creek trail, beginning at the Olympic National Park
Visitor Center, is an excellent place to sample the
spring bloom. From mid-April through May, trailsides are
dotted with pioneer Violet, trillium, false
Solomon’s seal, twisted stalk, twinflower, fringe
cup, and wild ginger. The Marymere Falls trail at Lake
Crescent hosts similar wildflower displays, and the
nearby Spruce Railroad trail, with gravel slopes and
rocky outcrops, adds paintbrush, sedum, spotted
saxifrage, spirea, and chocolate lilies to the lowland
display.
In the western rain forest, the Hall of Mosses trail
at the Hoh Visitor Center meanders through sprays of
white foam flower and slender boykina and thick beds of oxalis, as well as pioneer violet,
beadruby, springbeauty, and trillium.
Mountain Forest Wildflower Walks
In late May and June, the wildflowers of the mountain
forests are at their peak. The Hurricane Ridge and Deer
Park roads pass through this zone, and trails at Heart of
the Hills, Elwha, Staircase, Dosewallips, Sol Duc, and
other locations provide access to the montane forest.
Pipsissewa, pyrola, bunchberry, and delicate fairy slippers bloom in this shady
realm. These mid-elevation forests are also home to
shade-loving plants that lack green chlorophyll:
pinedrops, pinesaps, and ghostly Indian-pipes.
Subalpine Meadow Walks
Beginning in June, the subalpine meadows begin to melt
free of snow. The Hurricane Hill and Deer Ridge trails
take hikers through carpets of mountain wildflowers.
Smooth douglasia and spreading phlox are among the first
to bloom on south-facing rocky slopes, and glacier lilies follow the melting
edges of snowbanks. Colorful gardens of subalpine
buttercup, Sitka valerian, pale larkspur, arnica, hook
violet, paintbrush, and cow parsnip cover the hillsides.
In the Hurricane Ridge area and along the Hurricane Ridge
Road, monkey-flowers and marsh marigolds crowd snowmelt
streams, and purplish pink Jeffrey’s shooting stars
add splashes of color to moist swales. Other trails from
which to sample the subalpine gardens in early summer
include the Royal Basin and Boulder Lake trails in the
park, as well as the Mount Townsend and Marmot Pass
trails in Olympic National Forest.
Alpine Wildflower Walks
The Elk Mountain and Lillian Ridge trails from
Obstruction Point venture past treeline into the
Arctic-alpine zone. The windswept ridges and shallow
soils of this zone limit plant growth to low-growing and
"cushion" plants. Here phlox and douglasia are
joined by alpine anemone and
rock-loving anemone, sweet vetch, phacelia, and
Webster’s scenecio (an Olympic endemic). Pale
agoseris, woolly pussytoes, small-flowered penstemon, and
several saxifrages also inhabit this airy realm. Park
naturalists lead nature walks at several locations
throughout the summer season. Check for scheduled walks
at park visitor centers.
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