The Spokane area is blessed with many great places to hike and enjoy our wide array of wildflowers. Before you go out on your wildflower quest, it’s a good idea to pick up a wildflower book.

My favorite is one I have had in my backpack for a long time: “A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers.” The book has held together really well considering all the use it has had over the years.

Another really good book to have is “Plants of Southern BC and the Inland Northwest.” This book not only has good information on wildflowers but also on trees, shrubs, ferns, and lichen. It is one of my go-to books. It is a little heavy for the backpack but is worth its weight in gold.

As the saying goes, “April showers bring May flowers.” The month of May along with June can bring an explosion of beautiful wildflowers or in some dry years a very disappointing short season.

It is the middle of March as I write this article and I don’t have a crystal ball to tell what sort of wildflower season we will have this year. It could be great or it could be a bust.

All I can do is tell you about some of my favorite places that I have enjoyed during the 40-plus years I have lived in Spokane—and hope it doesn’t get too dry too early this year. Happy wildflower hunting!

Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (Cheney, Wash.)

This area has probably the best variety of wildflowers in the Inland Northwest. There are many different hiking trails along with a 5-mile auto loop. In addition to all the waterfowl, this 20,000-acre natural area supports a large variety of wildlife, including white-tailed deer, coyotes, beaver, and moose.

Some of the wildflowers you might see are Bitterroot (state flower of Montana), sticky geranium, yellow bells, prairie smoke, camas, and death camas, along with a lot of balsamroot just to name a few. Be sure and check for ticks before you leave the refuge. You don’t want any little hitchhikers going home with you.

Spring wildflowers along hiking trails, including bitterroot (left) and sticky geranium (right). // Photos: Rich Leon

Iller Creek Conservation Area (Spokane Valley, Wash.)

This is one place you will want to bring your camera. Iller has some very unique wildflowers not found in other areas around Spokane. One is Clarkia (a member of the evening primrose family).

Clarkia was named after William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Other wildflowers include mountain lady slippers, clematis, monkshood, and honeysuckle.

Dishman Hills Natural Area (Spokane Valley, Wash.)

The picturesque cliffs and ravines not only make this place an interesting area to explore but also a wonderful place to find a variety of wildflowers. As you roam around the many trails within Dishman Hills Natural Area, you are likely to find glacier lilies, Rocky Mountain iris, fairy bells, balsamroot, and fireweed.

Mount Spokane State Park (Mead, Wash.)

This is one of my favorite places for wildflowers. I like all the different trails at Mount Spokane State Park for a variety of reasons but especially the Nordic ski trail area because of the beargrass. The area has beargrass every year, but these plants only produce a major bloom about once every seven years.

When a big bloom happens, it is a sight to behold. On the lower part of the mountain (especially trail 100), you can find trillium, mountain bluebells, two different coralroot, bunchberry, paintbrush, and fairy slipper orchids.

Kamiak Butte (Pullman, Wash.)

This spot is about a 60-mile drive south of Spokane but well worth it. Surrounded on all sides by the wheat fields of the Palouse, this 3,650-foot-tall island of pine, fir, and larch has some amazing views.

On a good wildflower year the hillsides can be covered in a sea of yellow from the balsamroot. It is a great place to bring the kids for a self-guided nature walk on the 3.5-mile Pine Loop Trail. Don’t forget to pack a picnic lunch.

Tubbs Hill and Mineral Ridge (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho)

Both of these popular North Idaho natural areas offer some great views, and there are also plenty of wildflowers to see.

Other Notable Inland NW Wildflower Hot Spots

Other areas you might want to visit are Slavin Conservation Area (Spokane), Antoine Peak (Spokane Valley), Little Spokane River (North Spokane), Riverside State Park (Spokane), and the Liberty Lake Conservation Area (Liberty Lake, Wash.)

Please be aware that some areas in Washington require a Discover Pass such as Mount Spokane and Riverside state parks. There is an entry fee for the Turnbull Wildlife Refuge, and other areas such as the Little Spokane River do not allow dogs; all other natural areas require dogs to be on a leash at all times.

The post Best Spring Wildflower Hikes in the Inland NW appeared first on Out There Venture.

The late spring and early summer harvest of camas bulbs was a time when tribes like the Kootenai peoples along the Pend Oreille would leave their dispersed winter encampments and gather as an entire tribe to harvest this important food crop.  

Women and children in the tribe were in charge of cultivating this food source. They would wait until there were just a few blossoms left on the plants before they started their harvest. Having few blue flowers would ensure that they were harvesting the correct species of camas, not confusing it with the white flowers of the aptly named death camas. When the flowers started to fade and the seed pods formed, women would deftly pry up bushels of starch-filled nutritious bulbs using fire hardened sticks and antlers. They would then break off the seed pods and drop them into the hole to seed next year’s crop.  

The bulbs would be roasted in an earthen pit oven for one to five days, turning the starch into a sweet source of carbohydrates. The roasted bulbs were kept whole or ground into powder that could be stored for the entire year. The flavor has been described as ranging from a roasted onion to a baked pear. 

There are historic accounts of tribes managing the landscape when collecting camas bulbs. Tribal members would not gather immature bulbs, instead allowing them to grow again next season. If the crop in a particular area was low or there was lots of competition from other less desirable plants, like shrubs, tribes would burn the field to increase yield in the following years. 

There are many accounts of Pacific Northwest tribes helping and feeding white explorers as they ventured into the Salish peoples’ homelands. The proliferation of this flower in early spring had Meriwether Lewis describe seeing a bloom that “resemble lakes of fine clear water.” Meriwether and other white explorers also document the gastral intestinal distress felt after overindulging. Botanist David Douglas wrote, “…assuredly they produce flatulence: when in the Indian hut I was almost blown out by the strength of the wind.” 

The plant became so popular by the 1850s that common camas bulbs where shipped to the East Coast and as far away as England as ornamental plants. 

Invasive species, urban development, and colonialization has degraded the habitat in the last 200 years, but there are many efforts to restore these native prairie habitats as well as highlight the cultural importance of this plant. Tribes like the Kootenay are transforming historic agricultural land previously used for hay into productive camas prairies. The Canadian Kootenay Camas Project worked to map existing camas prairies, and the University of Victoria has planted camas on its campus. These efforts and more are helping to maintain the diversity of plants and cultures in the Pacific Northwest. 

Adam Gebauer has a compulsion for outdoor activities and is an avid chaser of snow, rock, water, and vistas. He does not mind waking up in the back of a car for an alpine start or just for his wildlife biology fieldwork. 

The post Finding Camas Flowers appeared first on Out There Venture.