Ladies Peak

Last week, the interns (Iris, Payton, and Winston) and David ventured into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. It was a tough 6.5 mile hike with 4,000 feet of elevation gain up to Lake Edna where we planned to set up camp. We then hiked up and resampled Camp Horn from 2021 with the goal of identifying any species that may have been missed in the initial survey. We added six new species to the peak's plant list including: Silene suksdorfii, Huechera cylindrica, and Phacelia hastata, and observed many of the same species recorded from the 2021 survey (some of which are imaged below). 

Chamaenerion latifolium

Phlox hendersonii

Oxyria digyna

Winston on Cape Horn

Iris and David sampling in the cloudy weather

The next day, the fluctuating weather cleared to sunny for our hike up Ladies Peak. Ladies Peak was large and we found high levels of diversity with 78 species observed. One impressive find was Astragalus alpinus, which has never been observed as part of the 50 peaks project and has never been documented in Chelan County. Overall, this trip was both interesting and successful. 

Astragalus alpinus

Astragalus alpinus

Iris, Payton, and Winston sampling on Ladies Peak