Spring is my favorite season here in central Washington. Our winters, while short and relatively mild in terms of snowfall and temperatures, can be quite dreary. Temperature inversions, freezing fog, and bad air quality are a staple of our weather forecasts from November to February. Summers can be brutally hot: the third digit on my home weather station spends quite a bit of time illuminated from June through August. While conditions in the Cascades are more tolerable, here in the arid sagebrush-steppe of the Yakima Valley, shade trees are found only along rivers and in watered urban backyards.
Spring holds the perfect balance: the days get progressively longer, conditions are perfect for outdoor exploring, and, as an added bonus, foothills of the Cascades come alive with wildflowers (one of my favorite photographic subjects the past few years.) Fall has its merits as well, but the with the onset of winter occupying the back of ones mind, the urge to get outside before the snow starts falling can feel almost stressful compared to the relaxed bliss of spring.
Here are some of my favorite photos from this past spring, from March’s vernal equinox up through June’s summer solstice:
A cluster of grass widows (Olsynium douglasii) backlit by the sun, Cowiche Canyon Preserve, Yakima, WA
Arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) plants cover a dry slope near Chelan, WA
A rocky ridge in the William O. Douglas Wilderness separates burned from unburned forest. The 2021 Schneider Springs Fire was ignited by lightning on the ridge in the upper right, and proceeded to burn 107,000 acres in the Cascade foothills west of Yakima.
Foothill death camas (Toxicoscordion paniculatum) plants emerge from ashy soil in an area burned by the Schneider Springs fire in 2021.
A top-notch sunset from a wildflower-strewn plateau in the William O. Douglas Wilderness west of Yakima.
Scorched ponderosa pine trees silhouetted against an orange sunset sky.
Night on the shores of Lake Chelan, WA
Blooming canola fields near Wilbur, WA
A trio of blue flax (Linum lewisii) flowers nearly blend in against a partly cloudy sky, Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, WA
Thompsons paintbrush (Castilleja thompsonii) and Gairdner’s penstemon (Penstemon gairdneri) on Manastash Ridge, WA
A cluster of bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) flowers beneath a gnarled sagebrush stem, Cowiche Mountain, WA
Zach Schierl Photography 
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