FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2008
Free wildflower hike itineraries and maps available from AMC White Mountain Guide Online, plus “citizen-science” flower watching opportunities
Come the tail end of spring, long after desert wildflowers and cherry blossoms have peaked elsewhere, swaths of rare alpine flowers begin blooming in shades of pinks, whites, and purples against the dramatic scenery of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is combining its top 10 picks for June wildflower hikes, based on staff naturalist and alpine ecologist favorites, with free downloadable itineraries and maps from AMC White Mountain Guide Online. AMC’s selections expand on the biggest draw for many hikers, Mt. Washington’s Alpine Garden area, and encourage broader exploration of forest wildflowers and lesser-known, above tree-line viewing spots to protect sensitive alpine flower habitats.
As part of special programs offered throughout the month of June, AMC naturalists will provide insights on wildflower adaptations to the harsh alpine environment and discuss what hikers can do to protect these plant communities. Programs will include Alpine Garden guided day tours on Sundays, a wildflower-themed weekend at AMC’s Highland Lodge June 13-15, and a June mountain flowers getaway for guests ages 50+ at Joe Dodge Lodge June 25-27. AMC recently added another naturalist-led Lodge-to-Hut trip for alpine wildflowers, after the trips initially available filled up.
Flower watchers planning their own hikes can easily pair backcountry overnights at AMC’s White Mountain Huts, which open for the full-service season on June 4, with many of the recommended hikes using detailed itineraries available through AMC’s White Mountain Guide Online. Families and individuals taking woodland wildflower hikes to Lonesome Lake Hut can save up to 12% Sunday through Friday nights during the full-service season.
To download and print AMC’s free “Top 10” June wildflower hikes, visit www.outdoors.org/wmgonline.
Trip itineraries provide maps with custom information, including trail segments within alpine zones and designated Wilderness Areas, nearby overnight facilities, essential gear, safety information, and backcountry-use guidelines.
Hikes range from forested, family friendly nature walks to challenging jaunts with extreme exposure to weather about tree-line. For help identifying flowers, pack a copy of AMC’s Field Guide to the New England Alpine Summits. Hikers also can help collect observations about select alpine and forest flower species as part of AMC’s Mountain Watch program, a citizen-science effort monitoring indicators of climate change in the Northeast.
Easy and family-friendly:
1. Lonesome Lake: With views of the Franconia Range as a backdrop, the loop around Lonesome Lake near AMC’s Lonesome Lake Hut offers wildflower enthusiasts an incredible variety of blooming plants, including bog laurel, sheep laurel, leatherleaf, sundew, wren's egg cranberry, sweet gale, Labrador tea, bunch berry, and clintonia.
2. Zealand Trail: Winding its way through several wetland habitats to AMC’s Zealand Falls Hut, this trail offers a nice mix of wildflowers with a good chance of spotting spring warblers, beavers, and moose.
3. Boulder Loop Trail: Blooming rhodora wildflowers combined with scenic views from open ledges make this a worthwhile loop hike.
Moderately challenging:
4. Wildcat River Trail: This trail winds along the Wildcat River, where the nodding bell-shaped flowers of Solomon's Seal and bellwort grow, before climbing gradually toward AMC's Carter Notch Hut and past blooming carpets of trillium, bunchberry, and partridge berry.
5. Webster Cliff Trail: Woodland wildflowers abound on the lower reaches of this hike, with early trout lilies and flowering hobblebush giving way to clintonia and bunch berry. Along the cliff trail, stretches of blueberries and mountain cranberries grow in shallow soils with laurels and balsam fir.
Strenuous:
6. Alpine Garden: The star attraction of the June bloom, the Alpine Garden Research Natural Area located near Mt. Washington’s summit, is the best place in the eastern U.S. to view the tiny white, magenta, and pink flowers of the diapensia, Lapland rosebay, and alpine azalea carpeting the rugged landscape.
7. Franconia Ridge: Considered one of the most spectacular walks in the East, this strenuous hike to the summit of Mt. Lafayette and Franconia Ridge past AMC’s Greenleaf Hut is especially rewarding when alpine flowers such as mountain cranberry, three-toothed cinquefoil, and diapensia bloom against scenic, sweeping ridgeline views.
8. Monroe Flats: The area surrounding AMC’s Lakes of the Clouds Hut boasts two rare species, including the largest population of Boott’s rattlesnake-root, found only on 10 of the tallest mountains in the Northeast. A viewing garden for dwarf cinquefoil offers a glimpse of this once Federally Endangered species, which grows only in the White Mountains.
9. Star Lake: One of the most accessible and impressive examples of old-growth trees in the region, via the Fallsway, is the starting point for this hike. The boggy habitat around Star Lake, located next to AMC’s Madison Spring Hut, has less common alpine flower species such as bog laurel, mountain avens, the shooting-star-like flowers of wren’s egg cranberry, and the large white tufts atop the cotton “grass” sedge.
10. Boott Spur: Above tree-line, this challenging hike offers many opportunities to see alpine species such as bearberry willow, black crowberry, bonsai-like krummholz trees of black spruce, balsam fir, and heart-leaved paper birch – along with spectacular views of Mt. Washington's Tuckerman Ravine.
Rates and reservations
For additional details about AMC’s wildflower-themed lodging packages at Highland Lodge and Joe Dodge Lodge, guided Lodge-to-Hut trips, and Alpine Flower Day Tours, visit www.outdoors.org/lodging/alpine-specials.cfm. AMC’s full-service hut season includes bunkroom accommodations, family-style dinner and breakfast, and naturalist activities. Call (603) 466-2727 for reservations.
To participate in June Flower Watch Month as part of AMC’s Mountain Watch plant monitoring program, including where to download monitoring kits with a free guide to identifying six of the more common forest and alpine flowers, visit www.outdoors.org/conservation/mountainwatch/flower-watch-month.cfm.
Founded in 1876, the Appalachian Mountain Club is the oldest conservation and recreation organization in the nation. With 90,000 members in the Northeast and beyond, the nonprofit AMC promotes the protection, enjoyment, and wise use of the mountains, rivers and trails of the Appalachian region. The AMC supports natural resource conservation while encouraging responsible recreation, based on the philosophy that successful, long-term conservation depends upon first-hand enjoyment of the natural environment.
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