After an astonishingly wet winter and a fairly long, easy spring, we escaped the heat of Yreka (84-degree day, heavens!) by heading up to the high country on the east side. We caught Little Shasta Meadows in that awkward stage, between the yellow bells and lewisia and before the camas and mariposa lilies. Instead, the meadows were filled with buttercups and larkspur--and showed the promise of what is to come a little later in the season.
Most of the snow has melted, making creeks run cold and fast. Here a little water backs up
into a calm pool just right for incubating tadpoles and mosquitoes.
A few of the camas lilies are beginning to bud open.
And pedicularis, which loves to have its feet wet, pops up in amongst the buttercups.
Pearl marble butterflies keep other pollinators company on a native mustard.
