Sand Harbor (Lake Tahoe) Wildflowers

Technically, I was on a stretch of the new hiking/biking boardwalk (directly north of Sand Harbor) that was constructed in 2019 along the east shore of Lake Tahoe. Precipitation hit Lake Tahoe late afternoon on September 28, and then the temperature dropped to about 28 degrees overnight. By the morning of September 29 snow had accumulated approximately 1 inch at lake level.

There were multiple specimens of Indian Blanket in various states of bloom and decline along this stretch of boardwalk. It's possible some of the specimens were actually Great Blanketflower.. However, I don't know how to differentiate between the two species at this point. I've seen images of the backs of both flowers where it shows the petals of Indian Blanket are red/crimson while the examples of Great Blanketflowers are yellow. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures from this angle.

I've never seen Tumbleweed in it's live state, and was surprised at just how sharp and numerous its barbs are. I definitely wouldn't want to stumble into that while out hiking!

Posted on September 30, 2019 12:49 PM by jaredmanninen