Mount Hebo

Pioneer Indian Trail in June

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We next hike Mount Hebo on June 16, 2004. Luckily, once again it's a dry, sunny day. We see many of the same flowers we saw before and some that we have not.

Not far into our hike in the forest section of the trail one of our group spots what looks like Wild Ginger foliage. The Ginger flower hides under the plant's large leaves. We'd seen Ginger on Cascade Head before but never on this trail, so we look under the leaves with skepticism. Much to our surprise there is a beautiful flower lying flat on a bed of pine needles. What a find! A short distance from there we find other treasures: a Three-Leaved Anemone and a Lyall's Anemone. We've never seen either of these plants on any other coastal trail.

Wild Ginger

Three-Leaved Anemone

Lyall's Anemone

In the forest area we find three other wildflowers that were not in bloom when we hiked this trail in May: Redwood Sorrel, Sea Blush or Plectritis and Wood Strawberry. Wood Strawberry is also a plant we've seen on no other coastal trail.

Redwood Sorrel

Sea Blush/Plectritis

Wood Strawberry

Nothing new blooms on the prairie. We enjoy the view for a few moments, although it is quite overcast, and check for Tiger Lilies. Finding a few buds but no blooms, and the Wild Strawberries not yet ripe, we continue to the bog.

Webster's New World College Dictionary defines a bog as "wet spongy ground characterized by decaying mosses that form a peat; a small marsh or swamp." This is not quite a full description of what we call the bog. Our bog certainly has the attributes that Webster's describes. This is easily demonstrable by walking about and finding one's boots sinking up to its laces in a few seconds. But our bog also has rock-floored bluffs with moisture seeping or trickling from cracks and crevices that have formed over the years. All of this is topped off by magnificent views of the mountains. We use dead and decayed trees laying on the bluffs for our lunch benches as we try, but are unable, to identify flowering bushes and marsh plants too small for our unsophisticated photographic skills to capture. It is truly a magical place.

Disregarding the tiny plants, on our bog we still find another wildflower bonanza: Lewisia, Camas Lilies, both white and purple, Pink Montia and Penstemon.

Lewisia

Purple Camas Lily

White Camas Lily

Pink Montia

Penstemon

After lunch we hike to the Old Hebo campground rest a moment under the trees, then backtrack to our car. There are a few wildflowers we have not seen yet this year, among them the beautiful Tiger Lily and Red Columbine. Nor have we yet had an opportunity to eat any of the Wild Strawberries that will soon be ripe on the prairie.

We promise to return in July to finish experiencing all of the pleasures of the Pioneer Indian Trail of Mount Hebo.

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