Spring Emerger - Coltsfoot

Day 148: As things fell out, my work schedule changed at the last minute and I found myself with a day on my hands and moderately nice weather in the bargain. I set out toward town and shopping, but the closer I got to Pack Forest, the more I was tempted to walk down the old road to the river. "Nah, I'll wait 'til it warms up this afternoon," one side of my head argued. "Yeah, but what if the weather turns crummy?" said the other side. In the end, the river walk won and a mile in, I felt a raindrop. Then I felt another, then another, but no more followed those three even though the sun disappeared behind greyish cloud.

The rivers (Little Mashel and the Nisqually) were pretty much as I'd seen them last, though with much of the annual vegetation still dormant and the deciduous trees still leafless, the views were more open. It was not until I had turned back and was halfway up the shady and damp hillside that I noticed and true sign of spring. Along the ditched bank, Coltsfoot was emerging.

A plant of bogs and streamsides, Petasites frigidus palmatus (or P. palmatus, if you prefer) has deeply notched leaves with "teeth" at the points. The flowers when fully open are white. When mature, the leaves may measure more than a foot across, and the flower stalk may reach a height of two feet. Common in the Pacific Northwest, Coltsfoot is one of the true harbingers of Spring.