Anacortes

2011 Washington Park Wildflowers

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Every year as spring takes hold, the 220 acre Washington Park in Anacortes becomes host one of the first wildflower displays of the year. The park may not be that well known to people outside of the Anacortes area but it sure is a gem. It’s located just beyond the busy Anacortes ferry terminal and is located on a small peninsula, surrounded by the waters of the San Juan Islands. The wildflower appearance is usually at the end of April but this winter’s stubborn nature has delayed things into May.

This year’s show of wildflowers was peaking this past week and it was better than what we’ve seen the last 2 years. I can’t say that any one area was really impressive but conditions and appearances were very nice overall. One flower I didn’t see this time was the White Fawn Lily. The fact that I did run into some Fairy Slippers (Calypso bulbosa) did make up for it. I’d definitely recommend making an annual visit.

Yellow Monkeyflower above the rocky beach of Burrows Channel
South Shoreline Trail high above Burrows Channel headed towards the Burrows Overlook
Young juniper tree along with Common Camas
Sea Thrift display off of the South Shoreline Trail, Washington Park, Anacortes
Sea Thrift and lichen off the South Shoreline Trail, Washington Park, Anacortes
One of the glacial features found in Washington Park. This semi-tube was created by a large boulder caught in the glacial ice
Pacific Madrone in bloom in Washington Park. Burrows Island in the distance
Pacific Madrone bloom. Washington Park, Anacortes
Rabbit in Washington Park, Anacortes
Fairy Slipper (Calypso bulbosa) bloom in Washington Park, Anacortes
Wildflower meadow at Juniper Point in Washington Park, Anacortes
Henderson's Shooting Star at Green Point in Washington Park, Anacortes
Henderson's Shooting Star at Green Point in Washington Park, Anacortes
Henderson's Shooting Star at Green Point in Washington Park, Anacortes
Deer grazing near the entrance to Washington Park, Anacortes

Washington Park Wildflowers

Spring weather in the Pacific Northwest will often hand you lemons so you’d better learn how to make lemonade. I was making plans to climb Mount St Helens this weekend but the forecasts ensured that it would be a miserable experience. I decided to work with the grey skies and take a look at the status of wildflowers at Washington Park in Anacortes. I had heard that the flowers were pretty nice last weekend so I was hoping for the best.

Washington Park is a city owned park just beyond the main ferry terminal for accessing the San Juan islands. It’s a mini-peninsula of sorts and is a forested park surrounded by rocky shoreline and the water. It’s climate is a bit unique so many of the trees along the shoreline environment exhibit much of the wind swept alterations of trees in the alpine environment or places like Monterey in California.

Upon arriving late in the afternoon, the rainy, gray skies were giving way to sunshine. I parked at the park’s entrance and began the 3 mile clockwise loop around the park. Sadly, my hopes were dashed as this year’s bloom (or just my timing) was not up to the level of my first visit two years ago. I stopped at all of my spots but large blooms were absent. Winds were the strongest I’ve experienced so the photography was really difficult. To stop the motion of the flowers, I had to boost the ISO up to 800 and that really exposes the age of my trusty Pentax DSLR. The noise and grain is fairly noticeable in a few of the images..

Lichen on shoreline rock
Driftwood
Thrift bloom amongst the grasses
Camas and Death Camas blooms
Camas, Death Camas, Thrift
Camas and Death Camas
As I approached the halfway point of the loop, the colors of sunset began to really show:

Magic hour over the San Juan Islands
My last stop was a spot which can have a large bloom of Shooting Stars (not this year). Sunset was in it’s last throws above the horizon. The orange hues were reflecting off of the clouds quite nicely:

Sunset in Washington Park

In the end, it wasn’t what I was hoping for but still a great time.

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