Not sure: it would certainly be easier for this non-botanist if it was flowering... I may have False-indigo on the brain; I've certainly been pining to find some of that wonderful butterfly plant.
I did see a silver-spotted skipper nearby.
Either disturbed by, or interested in, the mob of Hemiopterans swarming through the neighborhood...
Hundreds of these scurrying through the leaf litter a few hundred feet below the peak in a small area. About half consisted of a pair joined as these: a much larger dragging a smaller. I expected to get better pictures; alas, between the dappled light and their frenetic pace I couldn't do better than these.
Leptocoris? Specifically the Box Elder bug? This area is predominately Douglas Fir, but there were some broadleaf species.
A fat little fly; seemingly glued to this monkey flower.
Wasted some time trying to get a picture of their typical hovering flight, when I've neither the skill or camera to do this...
Can't seem to ID this... a woody and formidably thorny shrub, up to 6' tall, appearing sparsely on the N. side of Hood Mt. Peak. Flowers so reminiscent of peas.
So many this year... couldn't resist this one, so cool in it's all-black/white dorsal pattern. These are certainly variable.
Manzanita leaf lesions: red hemispheric distortions of many leaves on these hillside plants. Thought they might be galls of some sort; but they proved to be carmine 'bubbles' of the leaves...
