May 26, 2012 Dirty Harry's Balcony

Hiked at Dirty Harry's Balcony trail on a sunny Saturday. The temperature was about 58℉. The trail is located in the Snowqualmie Valley closed to exit 38 of Interstate 90 in North Bend (Lat: 47.42 Lon: -121.61).

The dominant tree species along the trail were sitka spruce, red alders, and some western hemlock. Douglas fir and redcedars were not present at all. Understory canopy was a mixture of false lily-of-the-valley, devil's club, and piggyback plants. As the vegetation here implies, this area is highly moist and covered in shades. Pacific trilliums were spotted several times near streams. Another dominant plants were false soloman's seal.

Unlike Mt. Si, lichens were not present at all here. I wonder if this has to do with the fact that this trail is so closed to highway.

As we reached 2,000ft, the vegetation was different again. There were western hemlock and sitka spruce at the Balcony. Oregon grapes, which were rarely seen along the trail, were very abundant at this elevation level. Mosses and lichens grow on rocks here.

(See written journal 15 for detail)

[Species List]
western hemlock
bigleaf maple
red alder
sitka spruce
false lily-of-the-valley
salmonberry
false soloman's seal
oregon grape
Davidson's penstemon
dust lichen
pacific trillium
devil's club
piggyback plant
beetles
mushrooms

Posted on June 5, 2012 02:20 PM by hsin119 hsin119

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