Early Summer (?) Hike: No Morels, but lots of Wildflowers

Summer Solstice, though here in the northern Rockies along the Continental Divide it's still the rainy season of June. Despite the weather, Andrea Stierle, Dave Carter, and I (and our three dogs) donned our raingear and set out from Butte America for a hike. Don Stierle was going to join us as well, but a big rainstorm swelled the Wise River (Big Hole tributary), so he kayaked instead. So many choices, so little time.

Our ostensible purpose was a hike into the Pettengill Burn in search of morel mushrooms, but we got off on a finger ridge that the burn never reached. No matter, we found LOTS of mushrooms. Not morels, though, and we amateurs didn't know if either of these common types were edible:


We did, however, find tasty specimens of the eminently edible Western Giant Puffball (Calvatia booniana):

This leaf lichen is probably edible too, at least if you are a caribou:

In the woods, along with the fruiting mushrooms, the tiny flowers of Grouse Whortleberry (Vaccinium scoparium) are blooming:

OK, which of you lughead dogs mouthed this grouse egg (and cracked it)?

They all (Black Molly, Speckled Jack, and Golden Chooka) look guilty to me:

We climbed to about 8,400 feet and encountered almost no snow. At the highest elevation along the ridge, flower catkins of the Mountain Alder (Alnus incana) hung in the chill air:

Down lower, below the woodline in the meadows along the Big Hole River and its tributaries, many wildflowers are blooming:

The blue sea of flowers at the top of the photo (above) are my favorite, and an important food of Native Peoples, the Blue Camas (Camassia quamash):

The foreground of that landscape photo is dotted by another Indian food, the American Bistort (Polygonum bistortoides):

Ah, here's a bed of Rocky Mountain Irises (Iris missouriensis):

Exquisite up close too:

A sign of overgrazed land (cattle don't like them) but beautiful nonetheless, a field of Golden Pea (Thermopsis montana):

Look closely, and you can see why they're called "false lupine:"

Speaking of lupines, two varieties are in bloom. Here's Silvery Lupine (Texans call them "bluebonnets;" Lupinus argentus):

And the easily overlooked, less showy Dwarf Lupine (Lupinus pusillus):

Rounding off the list for today's hike, the Sticky Geranium (Geranium viscosissimum):

Back in Butte, my neighbor's wheelbarrow & wagon garden of cabbages and tomato plants is looking mighty fine:


And tomorrow is the Bitterroot Festival: BBQ elk ribs and a hike out back to see the rock roses. Stop by if you're in the neighborhood!