Tehipite Valley

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maverick
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Re: Tehipite Valley

Post by maverick »

Hi Dee, Hites is 2000 ft at its highest point, and TV is 4100 down on the valley floor
I would think it would be difficult to gage on that bases, also since Hites is over a
100 miles north of TV it would receive more rain than TV most of the time, which
is also one of the factors that influence the kind of flower displays one can expect/hope
for.
There are just to many factors that can influence an accurate prediction.
For example do you remember when they had the wild fires in 2008 in the hwy 140 corridor
and then next spring the wild flowers where crazy, all up and down carpeting the hills.


Jdunne, I would love to get your input as a botanist, your knowledge of flowers
in the Sierra must be vast, plus being a former backcountry rangers you must
have first hand knowledge of some spectacular flower displays in the Sierra.
As a photographer, but also an admirer of wild flowers, your input on some locations
in the back country would be greatly appreciated, please pm me, if you'd rather not
share openly in the forum, that is if you are willing to disclose such information.

Thanks Mav
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Re: Tehipite Valley

Post by East Side Hiker »

Maveric et. al. interested. This is too confusing and theres so much - not a good description, sorry.

I have 10s of thousands of photos of Sierra flowers, all in order of flowering sequence, by year. But none from Tehipite Valley yet. I have no problem sharing info. You might have to prod me for particulars.

There are so many places with great diversity, but generally I like the Alpine - the remote Alpine like Dana Plateau and the Tioga Crest; but I go all around - Mt. Dana, Mono Pass, Lundy Pass and Canyon (if you can take the people), all the high places above Horseshoe Mdw., Baxter Pass, Shepherd Pass, Bishop Pass and the alpine of the Three Lakes, the other Mono Pass, Frog Lakes Pass (Virginia Lakes), Sonora Pk., Round Top, Rose Mtn. ... Any high place.

I generally spend my time in these, and other, similar areas. What I like to do is drive the few high roads (>10,000'), and go from there. Usually I go the last 2 weeks of July and the first two weeks of Aug. Since every year is different, I get a good diversity of floral periods. This year, I changed and went from Aug 15 to Sept 15 due to the late snow. I missed the cool early stuff (like sky pilots and lewissia), but got the mid-to-late stuff. The alpine spring went quickly despite its lateness.

But I work 10 hour days so I go before and after my month for three day trips and capture all the early and late stuff relative to my month from the 2,000 to 10,000 (as weather allows in the fall) level. Do a lot of Hwy 88 stuff cuz its close and the plant diversity is very great from Pioneer to Hope Valley.

I worked in many NFs - most recently (early 80s and before) Toiyabe, Sequoia, Inyo; others Wasatch, Ashley, Fremont, Arizona in general... That was a long time ago though. Currently am in the Bay Area doing fire fighting and fuel management - 22 dern years.

I wound up in Berkeley following 4 year Toiyabe NF stint to get a MS in Fire/Plant/Wildlife Ecology. Burned-up 4,000 acres of Mt. Hamilton.
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maverick
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Re: Tehipite Valley

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PM sent
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Re: Tehipite Valley

Post by East Side Hiker »

Oh, now I know what "pm" means.

Red Hills (white brodiaea) and Alabama Hills (evening snow) in the spring. Hope Valley for blue camas, waterleaf, bog onion, and Hesperochiron californica, trail from Woods Lake to Winnemucca Lake for all kinds of great flowers in the forest (low polemonium) as well as in the open, the highlands above Caples Lake from trial that starts at the dam, all above South Lake, road from Panther Spr to Salt Cr Res and down to Tiger Cr Res., Lundy Canyon, crest above Virginia Lakes, all the mdws in the Sonora Pass area, Highland Lakes, mdws above Pacific Valley, Horseshoe Mdw, Lundy Pass Loop, Tioga Crest, mdws up trail to Mt. Dana, both Mono Passes, trail to Morgan Pass...
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Re: Tehipite Valley

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Re: Maverick's insightful comment on the Hwy 140 wildfire. Usually post-fire floral displayes are fabluous, especially for annuals and genuses in (former) Liliaceae (which now has been broken into 9 different families in the updated Jepson). Calochortus (still Liliaceae) and Dichelostemma (now Themidaceae) in particular flourish following a fire.
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Re: Tehipite Valley

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This is what I feared - going crazy thinking about all the places with great flower shows. And the problem with doing emails - so much escapes the monment you're writing.

Like Maverick said above - one can be somewhere and see a great floral display, and then never see it there again. So hit and miss...

This past April, the trail to Sawmill Pass rocked with flowers. Solid carpet, primarily lupine.

Also, the route to Birch Mtn, outta Big Pine, in early July (?), was solid purple hillsides of lupine. Incredible. Far as you could see.

And the desert peach from Woodfords on down to the Sawmill Pass trailhead earlier in the year was great this year. There were huge patches of it at Sawmill in early April. I didn't even realize it grew there.
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maverick
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Re: Tehipite Valley

Post by maverick »

Thanks Jdunne for your post, and pm, very enlightening with lots of great information.
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Re: Tehipite Valley

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I'm still trying to figure out if late June is too early to start from the Crown Valley trailhead to get to Tehipite Valley.
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Re: Tehipite Valley

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I'm now thinking I might try for a late May trip to Tehipite Valley (like May 20). Might be some snow going over into the Crown basin, but I'm hoping that's all.

Any thoughts by those who are in the know?
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Re: Tehipite Valley

Post by vandman »

I think June would be the best time for Tehipite wildflowers. The roads should be clear in early to mid June. I parked my car at Wishon Reservoir. You are more likely to see the best wildflower displays in the vast meadows on the way to Tehipite Valley. The Valley is a steep V shaped riparian habitat, and has no meadow. The soil is dry and sandy, but there should be a lot of interesting flora. Maybe even some endemic plants.
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