March 11, 2006
Three Bench Loop (slopes above east end of Doug's Beach Parking Lot, WA SR 14 MP 79)
* Indicates the wildflower is currently in bloom!
1. Green-banded Mariposa Lily ?: Calochortus macrocarpus - Leaves only.
*2. Yellow Bells: Fritillaria pudica - A few in bloom on the lower bench, mostly bloomed out above.
*3. Grass Widow: Sisyrinchium douglasii var. douglasii - Fading bloom, perhaps not a good year for the bloom of this species through much of the gorge.
*4. Unidentified member of the pink family on shoulder of road (See photo below.).
*5. Spring Whitlow-grass: Draba verna var. boerhaavii - Numerous bloom.
*6. Fringepod: Thysanocarpus curvipes - A few in bloom.
*7. Smooth Prairie Star: Lithophragma glabrum - Several beginning to bloom.
*8. Peak Saxifrage: Saxifraga nidifica var. claytoniifolia - Several in bloom.
*9. Filaree: Erodium cicutarium - A few in bloom.
*10. Columbia Desert Parsley: Lomatium columbianum -
*11. Pungent Desert Parsley: Lomatium grayi - A few plants in bloom with pungent leaves just peeking out of the ground.
*12. Salt & Pepper or Piper's Desert Parsley: Lomatium piperi - A few still in bloom.
*13. Nine-leaf Desert Parsley: Lomatium triternatum - Several in bloom.
*14. Midget Phlox: Phlox (Microsteris) gracilis - A few beginning to bloom.
15. Ballhead Waterleaf: Hydrophyllum capitatum var. thompsonii - Numerous leaves amongst rocks and under poison oak below the cliffs, with a few developing inflorescences.
*16. Woods Nemophila: Nemophila parviflora -
*17. Small-flowered Blue-eyed Mary: Collinsia parviflora -
*18. Cleavers, Annual Bedstraw: Galium aparine var. echinospermum - Beginning to bloom.
19. Northwest Balsamroot: Balsamorhiza deltoidea - Numerous plants with leaves coming up, several with flower heads forming and yellow ray flowers visible but not fully extended.
20. Common Groundsel: Senecio vulgaris - Not quite in bloom along the highway across from the Doug's Beach Parking Lot.
Animals Seen: Ravens, Western Bluebirds, Coots (in Columbia R off Doug's Beach), Golden Eagle, Harrier eating a coot, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Robins, California Ground Squirrels.
