Manastash Ridge - Westberg Trail — Tuesday, May. 20, 2008

Manastash Ridge is a wonderful area to explore while waiting for the high-country snow to melt. On Monday the temperature had dropped to a mere 75 degrees, so the weather was perfect for a desert hike. Some sort of snake, perhaps a gopher snake, agreed but quickly left the trail as we approached. The trail to the Westburg Memorial is the steepest part. However, once you reach the ridge top the terrain mellows to lightly rolling hills. The flower show is splendid at the moment, though normally the flowers peak a few weeks earlier. We saw bitterroot, a favorite, endless buckwheat, balsam root, blue bells, sage violets, ballhead waterleaf, desert parsley, stonecrop, lupine, and a number of other bright blue unidentified blooms. To top all this off, there were views of both the Stewart Range and Mt. Rainier, although we only saw the bottom of the latter due to some cloud cover. Birds abound on the ridge, and we heard plenty of meadowlark birdsong. We also glimpsed a tiny lizard lurking under some rocks. Not much traffic either coming or going from the Seattle area, making this excursion an extremely fine one.