Mariposa Lilies

After returning from our Yosemite trip at the end of last week, we had just gotten things settled, and Sue and I decided we needed to go on a hike at Henry Coe. Apparently this is a good time to see Mariposa Lilies, and I spotted some that were really unusual. We hiked a loop in the Hunting Hollow area at the southern end of the park, and we saw lots of them. Early on it was very foggy. It was so foggy that we were hearing fog drip raining down from the trees, and our clothes and boots were getting soaked from brushing against the high vegetation. Heading up Steer Ridge trail I was seeing a great many yellow mariposa lilies, but they were not blooming because of the grey conditions. Feeling cheated as we moved on, I was making plans to climb back up Steer Ridge later on in order to see this display in the sunlight. The sun actually didn’t begin to come out until much later after we had already hiked all the way past Wilson Camp. But when it did, I found lots more Mariposas. Along part of Wagon Road I began seeing a type of Mariposa Lily that I had never seen before. I’ve seen many of the White (butterfly) variety usually having purple and yellow accents. I’ve also seen many of the yellow type having dark purple accents. But I had never seen a Mariposa Lily which was primarily a rose colored shade with purplish and yellow accents. There is a section of Wagon Road where many of this striking rose colored type are blooming right now. Heading down toward Hunting Hollow Road there were many more yellow lilies being frequented by butterflies. The displays were awesome enough to make me change my plan to go back up Steer Ridge to see more.

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