Due to the willingness of my wife and daughter to look after our new puppies today, I was able to take a hike on a trail I had been waiting five years to do. The trailhead at Dawson Saddle, highest point on the Angeles Crest Highway, has been inaccessible ever since the closure of the highway between Islip Saddle and Vincent Gap. There were some very nice things growing along the trail, including to my surprise a new species for me, Peirson's lupine, an uncommon San Gabriel endemic, which as the above picture shows was there in some profusion. The view from the top of Throop Peak has got to be one of the best in the San Gabriels, and even on a warm June day it was a pleasant hike. It is 2-1/2 miles from the trailhead to the peak. A Tom Chester plant guide for this trail is here. The pictures on the first page were taken in several springy areas and at a couple of other stops along the highway a few miles from Dawson Saddle. An upside-down V next to the common name indicates a species that was new to me when I photographed it on this field trip, and an asterisk denotes a non-native taxon.

Urn-flowered alumroot
Heuchera elegans
Saxifragaceae

Columbine
Aquilegia formosa
Ranunculaceae

Grinnell's penstemon
Penstemon grinnellii var. grinnellii
Plantaginaceae

Ewan's cinquefoil
Potentilla glandulosa ssp. ewanii
Rosaceae
RARE SPECIES

Scarlet monkeyflower
Mimulus cardinalis
Phrymaceae

Willow-herb
Epilobium ciliatum ssp. ciliatum
Onagraceae

Fragrant shooting star
Dodecatheon redolens
Ranunculaceae

Many-flowered monkeyflower
Mimulus floribundus
Phrymaceae

Tumble mustard *
Sisymbrium altissimum
Brassicaceae