If you tear a leaf does it bleed white sap?

Are you thinking Lactuca, Macranthos?

I'll check. That does seem like a possibility, although so far, it's pretty emphatically ground hugging.

I am vaguely thinking lactuca but I don’t think it’s a good match yet. The sap would at least help in some way.

Primula?

The basal rosette is ground hugging but I'm pretty sure it will throw up a tall flower stem when the time comes.

It does have the cut, somewhat rippled leaf margins of Lactuca virosa, which BONAP shows only for west-central CA. Without flowers, though, a firm ID is unlikely.

Verbascum?

Well, I'm not saying it can't be, but I've rejected a couple of verbascum varieties. It's not like the mulleins that grow wild in western Washington and more so in eastern Washington. They're gray-leaved and wooly. I haven't seen a picture of any that fit.

If you can do the leaf tear test that would eliminate Verbascum. Personally I don't think it is that genus.

Not all verbascums are gray-leaved and woolly. Not saying it is verbascum but it looks like some that come up around here.

OK, macranthos, I broke a leaf. It does bleed a small amount of white sap that looks like it comes from two "tubes" on either side of the main stem. And looking at how the leaves are developing now, I'm less adamant about it being ground hugging. Ground hogging, but it may not always be hugging.