Alta is a little land-locked lake (no creeks leading to or from it) just west of the Columbia River. It's on that narrow margin between the high desert plateau and the eastern slope of the North Cascades. It's a small park with the lake at it's heart and in April mid-week we basically had the place to ourselves.
In the late afternoon on Sunday, the lake was mirror smooth. This is a panorama shot looking south and east.
Click on the photo to see a full size version.
There were wildflowers everywhere. These woollypod milkvetch (Astragalus purshii) were growing in great drifts on the gravel beach. They have soft fuzzy leaves and the flowers come in all shades of white and purple.
The Western serviceberries (Amelanchier alnifolia) were in bloom all over the park. This photo was taken on a rise overlooking the 'forest campground' area. The place smelled absolutely wonderful!
Of course there were tons of arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) too.
In amongst the balsam root there were blue splashes of Douglas' trieleia (triteleia douglasii). The petals of the flowers have these great wavy edges that make them look really lacy.
Aside from the lake, the park has one great hike. It's not very long (only .6 miles) but it's a workout because it has an 800 ft elevation gain in just that little distance. Basically it's one steep switchback after another. We took it slow, stopping to look at the flowers and rest now and then when we'd find a good rock to sit on. There were clusters of Bonneville shooting stars (Dodecatheon conjugens) all along the trail.
And even more surprising, there were ladyferns (Athyrium filix-femina) growing in amongst the huge boulders here and there. Clearly there is water seeping down through the rocks to have both shooting stars and ferns in this dry climate.
When you get to the top you're rewarded with this great view of the lake--that is if you're willing to stand in amongst the boulders at the edge! We were camped down there along the lake's edge.
This is the view looking northeast to Pateros and the Columbia River. We think the mountains in the distance are in Canada.
The top of the plateau had more flowers including these Prairie stars (Lithophragma parviflora).
And Trumpet Bluebells (Mertensia longiflora).
There were little clusters of Lanceleaf springbeauty (Claytonia lanceolata) too.
And here and there some Twolobe Larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum).
There was also the sound of rushing water that we traced to a waterfall hurtling over the rocks and down the cliff face to the north. While I took some photos of it, it's hard to tell the rocks from the water so I won't waste the bandwidth sharing them.
The hike down was easier on the lungs but hard on the thighs and knees. We were both grateful to have our hiking sticks since the trail is sandy and thus kind of slippery in places.
We spent the afternoon sitting in the sun reading and enjoying a well-earned rest. At sunset I went back down to the lake and caught the sky mirrored in the lake.
And the clouds above the cliff we'd hiked turning pink.
Here's the full lake panorama at sunset. Yummy, huh?
Click on the photo to see a full size version.
It was still sunny and 65 when we left Alta the next morning. We hit clouds in Wenatchee and it was raining at Stevens Pass. We returned home to cold gray followed by an inch of rain in the night. It sure was nice to get a couple of days of glorious warm sunny weather and a good dose of wildflowers to celebrate 30 years of warm sunny joy-filled marriage.
If you get the chance, take a trip to Alta Lake. This was our second trip there over the years and it's been wonderful both time.