The 4th of July found us enjoying the cool temperatures at the cabin, examining the beautiful wildflowers. In an effort to see the condition of the property after a very wet winter we set out to see what we could see. There was no trail to follow, on the whim of my husband and brother as they fearlessly led the way. The wildflowers were beautiful, the bluebells were so tall the kids could crawl through them and we had no idea they were there.
There are many small creeks and springs on the property, especially from the spring months into the first of July. As we crossed plenty of water the kids had a great time splashing and throwing rocks. C7 came back from running up stream and was wet to his armpits. He says he fell in on purpose.
There were so many wildflowers! I wish I knew what they were called. The Forest Service has this great site called Celebrating Wildflowers that was helpful. I must find a good book with some easily identifiable pictures. My little camera doesn’t work really well but here are a few of my favorites.
There were thousands of the following plant just about to bloom. I must go back now to see the bloosomes.
The majority of the mountain is covered with these yellow and purple flowers. The sight is breathtaking!
Unfortunately not everything on our hike was beautiful. We did find some thistles and some mistletoe parasites on the pine trees.
Although we did not see any deer or elk there were signs of their travel through the area. After our 2 hour nature hike C7 was too tired to walk. Lucky for him his dad is always looking for an excuse to practice carrying an 82lb backpack while hiking. (Back pack = 12 lbs, K10 = 27lbs, C7 = 43lbs) Notice Logan’s wet pants. He carried most of us across a rather wide river so we didn’t have to get our feet wet. So chivalrous!!
After all was said and done K10 just couldn’t hold his head up any more. I never figured out why HE was the tired one, he sat down the whole time!
On my quest to find information about wildflowers I found this article on Aspen groves. As our aspens are so thick and have so much new growth I don’t think we need to be worried just yet about Conifer takeover
