Trillium

I've always considered trillium flowers (lower photo) to be the first harbingers of spring. True, the robins, sparrows, meadowlarks and other birds have been here for some weeks, adding their music to the air. Yet it's the sight of trillium along a wooded trail that, for me, opens the wildflower season the heralds the beginning of Spring.

This morning, the girls and I made what may be our last foray to the Rapid River trail this Spring. It has been clear and cold at night, so I figured we could run in to Potter's Flat (just past an old miner's grave) and back before it got too warm for the girls. By mid-April, I'll be unwilling to risk rattlesnake encounters as that canyon heats up.

The trail, because it follows the Rapid River, meanders through some old stands of pine trees, which provide the shade trillium like. Research on Wikipedia (so taken with a grain of salt) reveals that in several states, including Washington and Oregon, it's illegal to pick the flowers because it can take years for the plant to recover. Trillium seeds are spread by ants and mice, having a part the ants especially enjoy eating. Today, I saw white trillium, as well as purple. It took me back to my years of running trails in western Washington's forests.

Toward the end of our run, we encountered a father and son hiking in. The father had his binoculars handy. We chatted and discussed the wildflowers just coming out along the trail. I pointed to one I was unsure of, and was told it was a type of bleeding heart (upper photo), although the flowers were white rather than the pink I'm used to.

Soon - very soon - the forest trails above my house will be full of arrowroot, lupine and other wildflowers. The wildflowers in my garden will start growing, and blooming.

Yesterday evening the girls and I hiked up into the forest, high enough that we encountered some stubborn snow patches along a creek. That was the girls' favorite part of the hike.

That, and for Meadow, the hip bone she discovered and delighted in dropping before my feet. She's acquired the habit of bringing all new bone finds to me, dropping it for me to admire and kick or throw for her; then she'll carry it the rest of our run or hike. She's so easy to please.

I never tire of going into the forest. Running, hiking, strolling, it doesn't matter. Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall - it's all good. It's peaceful. It's where I'm most at peace. I think the girls would agree.