Iron Mountain Road, El Dorado County

Reasons to Go: It's a 25-mile corridor with 4000 feet of elevation change, lots of side roads, and a sampling of geology that includes a couple of volcanic areas that will provide some interesting places to search out many floral surprises.

Where? Probably better known as Mormon Emigrant Trail, Iron Mountain Road connects E16 at Jenkinson Reservoir with Hwy 88 at the old Iron Mountain Ski Resort.

When?: Any time from May (or maybe not until into July?) until October or the first storm. Note: the road starts at 3500' and is not plowed. Result? Snow is guaranteed to block the road well into Spring. In 2005 the road wasn't clear until the 4th of July, in 2006 it was opened in late June, and in 2007 it opened in late May, and in 2008, late May again. (Hmmm. Less snow two years running.)

Iron Mountain Road is a Scenic Quick Get-Away

When I made my first drive up Iron Mountain Road, probably sometime around 1985, it was to go in search of firewood, not flowers. It was a little used paved road that was simply a shortcut between two major highways (50 and 88), mostly ignored, closed by snow in the Fall and remaining closed until the snow melted, or until Memorial Day when a plow is supposed to clear the remaining patches and accumulated rocks and debris. Good luck with that.

Several years ago a landslide closed Hwy 50 for a few weeks. People couldn't get to the ski areas, or worse, to the casinos of Stateline, NV. The next thing that happened was a complete repaving of the road to bring it up to standards and it was dubbed Alternate Hwy 50. It might take another hour (or two!) to go 30 miles south to Hwy 88, another 20 to go up and over Carson Pass to pick up Hwy 89 to go north another 25 miles to Myers where the intrepid gambler can resume use of Hwy 50 to get to Stateline, but what the heck?

The worst part of that deal was the lots of people found out about Alt 50, now just a fancier Iron Mountain Road. While it was once possible to spend a day on the road without seeing five other cars, now it is a more heavily traveled road, used by many and abused by a few. It's still a great place to go take a look at Nature and still get home by dinner.

This photo of the Crystal Range and Pyramid Peak was taken from a spot that I have to visit every year. I first found a collection of flowers here when I clambered up a road-cut for a better shot across the road. There at my feet were a dozen or more shreddy-petaled white flowers that I thought might be Lewisia? (I was new to this whole plant ID thing.) I took a few pictures and showed them to the CNPS group I belonged to, and sure enough, they were recognized as Lewisia kelloggii.

Now I go back every year to check on them. There are always signs of winter campers having built fires in the area, and tracks indicate that snowmobiles or ATVs have been ripping around the area. Broken glass and refuse always indicate that at least some of these people have little concern with their impact.

Heading up the Road...

Turning onto IMR at the west end of Jenkinson Lake (actually a reservoir), you still need to cross over the two dams and get past the parking area for the hiking trail. Be cautious in the area because there are usually lots of fishermen and usually a lot of bicyclists prepping to peddle up the road.

Sly Park behind you, now it's up the road and take it at your own pace. Stop when you feel like it (lots of roadside area, many turn-outs and side roads) and simply explore. I have wished that I had counted my trips up this road over 20 years. It has to be hundreds; I never get tired of seeing it.

I already knew that the road was still closed by snow, so I only hoped to go as far as my favorite stop: the place with the great view and where I find my Lewisia [ L. kelloggii]. It also happens that there is a marvelous lupine that seems to key to Anderson's lupine (L. grayii) and is very fragrant. I would love one in my front yard. Instead I have several in my “backyard”, the Sierra foothills, and that's OK too.

In fact, as would be the case in any of several stops along IMR, wandering around and looking away from the road will produce some wonderful surprises: big displays of special flowers seem rather common in this area. I have found huge patches of five-spot, linanthus, several species of mimulus,... all growing in patches that might be 10 feet in diameter or more.

This particular spot also offers a great display of Calochortus leicthlinii, a common but especially pretty mariposa lily. This calochortus is one of those flowers that is so neat you want to keep shooting another picture because each new micro-scene is better than the one you shot two minutes ago. Digital cameras sure remove the burden of paying to develop 20 pictures of the same thing!

Schenk Camp

Heading uphill, just about 100 feet before you come to the left turn to Silver Fork, there is a wide spot on the right with a chip-sealed road leading off to the right and down a few hundred yards to Schenk Camp. You'll know it when you come to the pond.

Park somewhere out of the way, then probably head past the right side of the pond and find your way into the forest area ahead. From here you wander, probably finding a way across the slope and generally tending toward the open slope you will see ahead and off to the right. As you tromp through the understory, find loads of lupine (L. albicaulis, plus ?), wallflower (Erysimum), and stickseed (Hackelia).

It was an interesting caterpillar chomping its way through some stickseed at Schenk Camp that got me started with appreciating butterflies. I was curious about the colorful thing, started looking to find out what it was going to become, and stumbled upon Art Shapiro's Butterfly Site. I was able to get help with identification, and that led me to continue paying more attention to butterflies.

It's just a litle ironic that Gnophaela vermiculata is a moth that helped me see butterflies. More interesting to me is that I continue to visit Schenk Camp, and just recently discovered another new and colorful moth: a Red-winged Wave moth (Dasyfidonia avuncularia), shown at right. While I have found more moths there, Schenk Camp is just a place worth looking for butterflies too, and a few interesting plants. (I still need to get back in time to find Baneberry (Actea rubra) in full bloom! I don't know of another spot to find this plant.)

Past Schenk Camp...

Once you pass the Silver Fork turn-off you go through the curvy section that is always the last place for snow, then another mile or so and the big curve at "Cornflower Meadow" (completely unofficial name I use for it!) where you might want to stop and wander. The grassy areas are great for Lewisia nevadensis, and scads of other small stuff to discover. The stream that flows through is a wonderful place to look for orchids and other wet-area flora. Just be mindful of not trampling the vegetation.

Once you leave that meadow behind, your next likely stop is at the sno-park area just at the intersection with Hwy 88. Of course any meadow area is worth a look, and there are many other places worth a stop as you cover the 30 miles from Sly Park.

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