Fairy Slippers Now in Bloom Blog | Wild Macro Photography

Wild Macro | Natural History Fine Art Photography by Timothy Boomer

February 24, 2018 - Fairy Slippers Now in Bloom

I'm pleased to report that western fairy slipper is now in bloom at Mount Tamalpais State Park. You won't find the mass quantities we had last year (no doubt due to this year's much drier winter and the fact that it's still pretty early in their season), but you shouldn't have any trouble locating some if you look in the right places. They have a close association with Douglas fir, so anywhere you see those distinctive pine cones on the ground is a good place to start searching. They seem to especially favor the shaded forest floor along the south side of Laurel Dell Road within a quarter mile of its intersection with Bernstein Trail. I'm sure there are a number of different ways to get there, but I parked at the quarry parking lot (37.914473, -122.609207) and hiked north along Lagunitas-Rock Spring Road and Bernstein Trail until I reached Laurel Dell Road. From that point, the orchids were scattered pretty obviously in either direction.

After exploring and photographing to my heart's content in that area, I decided to take a short stroll along Steep Ravine Trail from the Pan Toll Campground parking lot. I found a few fairy slippers there, but nowhere near as many as along Laurel Dell Road. However, I did find a different and completely unexpected orchid there — spotted coralroot! I didn't bother to photograph it because the wind was picking up and it was getting late, but I still marveled at it for a couple minutes. It struck me as out of place growing through the moss, and even more out of time (one of its other common names is summer coralroot after all), but I can see from iNaturalist that I'm not the only one who's seen one on Mt. Tam recently. I also noticed plenty of milkmaids, Pacific hound's tongue, and a couple Henderson's shooting stars, but the fairy slippers were definitely the highlight of day.

Next Entry: Sonoma Coast Wildflowers - 5/15/18

Previous Entry: Rattlesnake Plantain Now in Bloom - September 3, 2017

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