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by Wildflower-nut on Tue May 22, 2018 7:30 pm
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I'm looking at going to mt Rainer and other places in WA.  Interested in wildflowers.  When is best time to go?
 

by E.J. Peiker on Tue May 22, 2018 7:47 pm
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August!
 

by Mike in O on Tue May 22, 2018 8:09 pm
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A lot depends on snowpack (light this year)...my guess would be late July for Mt. Rainier but for the Olympics, I would call middle of July...for the Columbia gorge, it is happening now.
 

by E.J. Peiker on Tue May 22, 2018 8:13 pm
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In my experience, July is too early. On average, again in my experience, peak time would be the second and third week of August due to elevation.
 

by Kerry on Wed May 23, 2018 9:13 am
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When I was last in the Olympics (2009), the wildflowers up at Hurricane Ridge and along Obstruction Point Road were at full peak the first week of July.
 

by E.J. Peiker on Wed May 23, 2018 11:31 am
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I guess it depends a lot on when the snow melts...
 

by Kerry on Wed May 23, 2018 11:41 am
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E.J. Peiker wrote:I guess it depends a lot on when the snow melts...
...and on how much snow there is to begin with...
 

by Mike in O on Wed May 23, 2018 4:11 pm
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Oregon Cascades have about 3' at 6400' in Central Oregon & 10' up on Mt. Hood...normally the snow pack is similar. Mt. Rainier usually gets a lot of snow but the people area is at a lower altitude. Since timberline is 7000' in Oregon and 5000' in Washington...solar radiation also has an effect.
 

by mortsgah on Wed May 23, 2018 9:24 pm
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EJ and others are correct. The answer is...it depends. I live and back country ski here in Washington so I can tell you that we had a little above average snowpack year. But we are having a warm and dry May. A great link for snow pack info is the snotel sites. The area you would want to look at is Paradise. That is one of the spots that provides access to the meadows that have the flowers. Here is a direct link to that snotel site.

https://wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/reportGene ... NWD::delta

I am also including a link that gets you to a western map (you will have to navigate a bit to see how it works) for other snotel sites.
https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/

And lastly a link to the many Mt Rainier web cams at so you can watch the snow melt live!
https://www.nps.gov/mora/learn/photosmu ... UMP_696846

As of today (May 23, 2018) there is still 100 inches of snow on the ground at the Paradise snotel site. With our current warm sunny weather we have been losing around an inch a day the past week. If that were to continue on a straight line (which it won't) the avalanche Lilly (the first to emerge from the snow) would show up in August. But of course as the summer progresses the snow can melt faster with the warmer weather and longer days. So all things being equal, for a 'normal' summer anytime from late July through August should produce flowers, with August your most likely bet for no snow and a wide variety of flowers. Of course with the melting snow comes the mosquitoes!
erik
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