Tags
American west, butterflies, Eastern Cascades Slopes & Foothills Ecoregion, Fremont-Winema National Forest, Oregon, trees
A week ago, we camped at the Antler Campground — 6400 feet elevation — in the Fremont-Winema National Forest in southeast Oregon. We stopped at the Forest Service office in Silver Lake (on Oregon Highway 31) and inquired about campgrounds. A map is necessary to find Antler Campground as it is about twenty miles from the highway with a number of turns, some with signs, some without. The campground is set up for horses, with stout corrals, a well with hand pump, and a trail that accesses the Yamsay Mountain non-motorized recreation area. We did not have horses though, so we walked the Scenic Rock Loop with a side-trip and steep climb to 7000 feet where we had a picnic and then hiked back to our camp.
Coming from a lower elevation where summer is well-advanced, a mountain meadow with wildflowers and butterflies is spring-time again. Photos below.
Paintbrush
Balsamroot
Scenic Rock Loop Trail. Lichens on Scenic Rock.
Douglas Fir along trail toward Yamsay Mountain.
View at 7,000 foot elevation.
Lightning struck tree.
Meadow and split snag (lower end of Scenic Rock Loop Trail).
Columbines
Asters
Fritillary butterfly.
Hoary comma (Polygonia gracillis)
Katie Eberhart: Nature & Literature 
I was just loving those photos of the scenery and flowers, until the lightning strike photos popped up…eeek! Quite a reminder of the power of nature. Looks like a beautiful area though.
Hi Helen,
Oh yes, the scenery was gorgeous and no one else was camped there the three days we were there. I meant to also mention that the night sky was epic — so black and so many stars and as much of the Milky Way as I’ve ever seen at one time.
Katie
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