By now many of you have completed your first hike and have experienced the incredible views and diversity of wildflowers. How stunning!

You also may have many gorgeous photos of flowers that you want to share with everyone else involved in MeadoWatch. We have set up a Flickr Group that anyone can contribute to; you just need to join Flickr and join the group which can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/meadowatch/. Every photo is welcome here, from photos of the survey sites to animals to mountain views.

For photos of specific species all across Mt. Rainier National Park, we would love your photos added to iNaturalist. The iNaturalist platform allows us to download a file that we can easily extract scientific data from. You just need to have date-stamped, geotagged photos to upload to iNaturalist.

The easiest way to add photos to iNaturalist is also through the Flickr group. First upload the photos to Flickr and then log into iNaturalist and join our MeadoWatch group (http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/meadowatch), click on the blue button that reads ‘Add Observations to this project’. You will see a tab called ‘Add photos’ Just select Flickr under the drop down Source menu. You will be prompted to link your Flickr account to your iNaturalist account so that both the photo and associated data can be uploaded to the MeadoWatch iNaturalist project. Select a photo from the window on the right and then click on ‘sync’ to synchronize the GPS coordinates, date and notes from Flickr. Be sure to add the phenological stage!

Also, be sure to check the weather before you head out for your hike. I prefer using NOAA to weather.com because it is specific to Mt. Rainier. http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?textField1=46.7853457870&textField2=-121.7420573080#.Ug6zNH-gZeg

The photos below are from the day after a hailstorm that Elli got caught in. Look at that erosion!
You never know how quickly weather can change. It's always best to be prepared!

Thanks for your dedication to MeadoWatch so far. We have received 38 data sheets, quite impressive for the first year of the program! I am continually amazed at the caliber of people volunteering for MeadoWatch, you make the program a success, and for that we are so grateful!

I’m so glad to have met a few of you on the trail, and to hear about how you have been MeadoWatch ambassadors to interested visitors. It’s great to spread the wildflower enthusiasm! Please do tell folks to visit our website to sign up for next year’s MeadoWatch wildflower hikes.

If you are hiking on a clear day, don’t forget to turn around to take in the view on the way from site 8 to 9. You can see all the way to Mt. Adams on your left and Mt. St. Helens on your right, and of course Mt. Rainier, right up close!

Special thanks to Carol Miltimore, who is also a volunteer wilderness ranger, for removing the small downed tree along the trail to site 2. Above and beyond!

Exciting news! All of the MeadoWatch sites have melted out! Survey markers 1-9 have been installed. You may still find a bit of snow up to site 9, but most of the trail is melted out. Don’t forget your insect repellant, the mosquitoes are getting thick!

Some flowers I noticed while walking the trail this week are the beautiful Spreading Phlox, Rosy Spirea, and a single Tiger Lily.

Another flower structure that may be easily confused with one of our focal species is the Showy Sedge (Carex spectabilis). When it is flowering it can look similar to American Bistort. Shown sided by side below (sedge on the left, bistort on the right):

We also have an exciting new way to organize any photos you may take while conducting your MeadoWatch hikes. We have a Flickr Photo album where you can share all your photos and look at the gorgeous shots others have taken. You can find it here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/meadowatch/

Feel free to upload any and all photos you would like to share!

We have also discovered a Western Anemone in site 5, please note it on the bottom of your data sheet when you survey site 5. Thanks to all the volunteers who already noted it on their data sheets! This may occur later on in the season as well, keep an eye out!