When summer arrives we have some hikes we do each year, enjoying the wildflowers, pollinators, and explosion of new growth on the south-facing hillsides of Mount Dufferin.

At the start of summer, the grasses are still green, sagebrush and rabbit brush is showing new growth and the first wildflowers give way to the dryland varieties like shaggy fleabane, phacelia, thistles, goldenaster, milkweed, horsebrush, and blazings stars (see the link below).

On the north slopes of the hillsides are more pines, firs, and junipers with pinegrass filling in the open spaces.

We do different variations of this loop route, and on this day it was a 4.8 km route.

We have 4 seasons of hiking on the Kenna Cartwright slopes, each one bringing new things to enjoy each year.

A post featuring the wildflowers of the hike can be seen at this link:

• On the Big Pine Loop