At first I thought it was nutz to be thinking wildflowers in mid April then while in the garden of the Gods on Easter morning I came across what is known as the first wildflower of the year traditionally. http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/reply_images/39079.jpg I guess with the dryer and warmer Winter we've had along the Front Range, it is to be expected that Wildflowers will be out early as well.
Nice capture James! I also saw those near Boulder, they are known as Pasque Flowers.
They were everywhere, in groups every 15ft or so, around Plainview Road (northwest of the intersection of Hwy 72 & Hwy 93). To my surprise I always spotted some Golden Banner and the ever common wild geranium.
Jody: Last year flowers started to come out around late May - Early June at Chautauqua. The first to come were wild Iris and Golden Banners. For more images of Golden Banners visit Roxborough State Park - it usually has fields of them in late May.
Posted by Scott Bacon on April 18, 2006 at 9:01 AM
Jody, I usually start my lunch-time wildflower scouting at Chatauqua during the first or second week of May. I'll make sure to post in the wildflower thread...
Posted by Chuck Peacock on April 18, 2006 at 10:41 AM
Dandelions! We got dandelions!
And they're having a hard time pokin' through the new snow today.
It's a slow death for winter out here.
This is Caribou. It's a neat place for wildflowers starting in late May. It's surrounded by 4x4 trails, but they're not allowed in the meadow where the town site is and they aren't even visible from the meadow either. The only obvious ruins are two stone buildings and a mostly collapsed cabin. I try to make it up there once or twice every summer, usually take lunch in Nederland at the Pioneer Inn or Kathmandu. I took this photo up there last summer. And this one.
Posted by Jamie Botdorf on April 25, 2006 at 4:12 PM
Does anyone have recommendations on flower hot spots around Estes/RMNP or Indian Peaks/Brainard Lake areas?
Posted by Les Barstow on April 25, 2006 at 9:39 PM
James, RMNP and the Indian Peaks areas aren't well-known for their flowers - at least not in the landscape department (aka unlike Yankee Boy Basin or Crested Butte).
Every few years the tundra is overcome with Alpine Sunflower, and if you're into Alpine flower macros, most years are good years on Trail Ridge Road. Wild Basin is an excellent path for photographing Calypso and Bog Orchids, but again this is more macro photography...
Caribou and Caribou Ranch are decent from what little I've seen, and there are some good if isolated spots on the way up Rollinsville Pass (between Indian Peaks and James Peak Wildernesses).
Posted by Les Barstow on April 25, 2006 at 9:40 PM
Oregon Grape and other early-bloomers are out in the lower Front Range canyons, BTW.
Posted by Brent Murphy on April 27, 2006 at 1:46 AM
James - I shot along the trail to Bridal Veil Falls in RMNP a few years back, around the end of June, and it was pretty nice. No grand scenics, but lots of opportunities for intimate wildflower shots. I would recommend picking up "Colorado's Best Wildflower Hikes, vols. 1 and 2" for good hiking ideas. They're not great books for flower identification, but definitely good for finding places to go, and when to go there.
James - I'll second Brent's recommendation for the books. I have both and they're excellent.
Although not quite the density of more famous locations, the area around Lake Isabelle can be quite nice for flowers. Not sure of the exact timing (it may actually be in one of the aforementioned books), but I recall late July is pretty good.
Just posted an update of my MIA status in the Roll call. I saw this thread and though maybe I'd post a link to a wildflower shot form Austria. The flowers here have started popping all over the place at the lower elevations of the mountains. In fact, there have been 2 or 3 varieties that have come & gone already. Things are changing fast here n the spring. I'm anxious to see what the flowers are like higher up in the mountains here.
I haven't identified the names of the flowers here yet, but here's one shot I got.\:
http://www.theahls.us/Gallery/images/Austria/springmeadow_32254.jpg
NW sage country: Arrow leaf is starting to pop, lupine and paintbrush are just around the corner (1 to 2 weeks), Memorial Day weekend should be ideal.
Don't know for sure but the flowers should be pretty good in Dinosaur N.M. area right now. Just had some nice rain to give things a boost.
I was on the high plains east of Kiowa last night - same elevation as Castlewood Canyon SP. The paintbrush, arnica, and owls clover are in bloom and cacti are close. An emerging paintbrush is attached. It's really dry on the prairie and the flowers won't last long.
Also, I saw some wild iris in full bloom along Leyden Rd. in Arvada, so the iris above Chautauqua should be ready now.
Claret cup cactus are blooming around Gates of Lodore in Dinosaur Natl. Monument. There's also some yellow flowers nearby (don't know the name) and an occasional lone red paintbrush, but neither of the latter are much to photograph.
f36(!). Not the sharpest of f-stops, but oh well. Of course, I had my 45mm T/S lens with me, but never pulled it out of the bag. Probably could have done this at f11-f16.
The wild iris is looking pretty good at Chautauqua too. (repost with pic, which I finally got to tonight)
Posted by Doug Andrews on May 27, 2006 at 11:42 PM
Just got back from RMNP. Lots and lots of Golden Pea (I think thats what they are) in Horseshoe and Moraine Park. Saw a few wild Iris as well in Moraine Park and a whole bunch just outside Estes Park on 36. Aspen have leafed out well too. Not much snow up high. Looks more like early July than late May.
Saw some orchids in Mt Evans Wilderness area. I don't know which type. They are a lady slipper type with magenta/purple petals and a white and yellow throat. They stood approximately 2.5" tall.
Not sure if this counts as a wildflower, but had a chance to visit Catalina State Park in Tucson a couple of weeks ago. The saguaro were in bloom (or starting to bloom)...something I'd never seen before. Here's a sample...
I went out to Green Mountain yesterday, not far from Red Rocks. Although not as profuse as in past years, there was a great variety - paintbrush, lupine, penstemon, salsiphy, wild rose, spiderwort, blanketflower, barrel cactus, prickly pear, lots of yucca and about a half dozen or so that I need to ID still. We even saw a spotted towhey, and if I hadn't been walking around with a wide-angle lens I might have gotten a decent shot .
If you've never been out there, it's one of the "Best Wildflower Hikes" in Colorado. It's a nice trail with some good views of the foothills, although there seems to be more mountain bikers than hikers. I'd guess that there will still be a good showing for maybe another week; a little longer if we get some rain. The yucca range from not yet open to just past prime depending on which way the particular hillside faces. The ladybugs are out IN FORCE. They're mating like crazy - I might even have some R-rated phots .
Yep, Red Rocks is really good right now, lots of purple and blue stuff that I don't know names for off the top of my head, a bunch of orange paintbrush, and some really good yuccas.
Golden Gate Canyon State Park, CO: Wild Iris - Large pockets can be seen near the Aspen Meadow Campground area. High concentration of Tiger Swallowtail butterflies flying around. Blue Columbine - A few early blooms can be seen around the Aspen Meadow Campground. Many more will appear within the next few weeks. Last year there were large amounts of Columbine, easily numbering in the thousands! Lupine - some about to bud Golden Banner - large patches of this early spring flower can be seen within the valleys and shaded areas within the park. Indian Paintbrush - some early blooms.
Chautauqua Park - Boulder, CO: Lupine - some about to bud but many are dried out. Golden Banner - relatively few compared to a few weeks ago. Indian Paintbrush - Clusters near the main trail, near the beginning of the forest in shaded areas. Yucca - Currently blooming along the trails.
I did see many other types of flowers that I do not have the names of..... Check out my Website for the latest photos from today.
I went to Miller Mesa outside of Ridgway on Saturday. Most of the flowers are stunted, and they crunched underfoot. It is going to be really bad if it doesn't change soon. The temperature here in Grand Junction today was 101. The snowpack is only 24% of normal.
I was out along the Mesa Trail near NCAR last weekend, and Rick is right about the HOT HOT HOT ladybug action goin' on. Never noticed before, but they really love those yucca. Also some lupine and penstemon in bloom, and a few other things I didn't recognize. And if you're really lucky, you'll spot a pair of Dora the Explorer sunglasses that my daughter decided to get rid of when I wasn't looking.
Posted by Jesse Speer on June 12, 2006 at 11:04 PM
Lupine are poking out nicely in the Aspen area (Capitol Creek, Castle Creek, Maroon Lake). I saw plenty of flower varieties in spots along Capitol Creek Road, including unexpected Columbine near the trailhead (red columbine can be seen along the Capital Lake trail). Chiming bells and other summer varieties were just starting to pop out in the Maroon Lake area. Here's a shot near Maroon Lake, with a bunch of yellow flowers (or maybe weeds) I can't identify. Sorry, no hot ladybug action here.
Posted by George Hager on June 13, 2006 at 4:21 PM
Drove up to Cameron Pass on 6/12/06. Glacier lily are in bloom at the summit. Not huge fields ar anything, but nice small patches. In the area around the moose information building on the west side of the pass, the corn lily looks about right sized to photograph. A few patches of snow in the trees on the summit so the rest of the early spring flowers are also showing up though not in great numbers.
Posted by bill meikle on June 19, 2006 at 11:14 AM
Golden Pea flowering now on the trail to Ouzel Falls in RMNP, also the first Paintbrush.
Lots of water in the falls. Car park is full at the weekend by 9am.
Lots of fairy saxifrage up at Summit Lake at Mt. Evans last weekend, also saw some marsh marigold and a small spot of what I think was Fairy Primrose. It was still very very cold up there at sunrise, though.
Just got back from 3 days in the Tetons. Worst I've ever seen it this time of year for wildflowers. It was almost bare in the Antelope Flats area. The lupine were good at the Pilgrim Creek pond but are on the way out. The pond is actually there this year but not full. There are some good areas of the small white flowers (no idea what they're called) but you'll need to know where to go to find the best fields.
Cottonwood Pass behind Hot Sulphur Springs has the most columbines I've seen in three years. It's looking like a good year around here. I'm tenatively headed to CB next weekend, but I have doubts considering the crowds.
I went out on the Buffalo Pass road (about three miles up from Strawberry Park and just before Dry Lake Campground---County Rd 38) this morning for a couple of hours and here are some of the results. Sorry, the composite is kinda busy, but I wanted to show the range of flowers out there right now.
Abundant Columbine on north facing areas, as well as wild roses and several others as you can see. Just past Dry Lake Campground is a nice meadow filled with mule's ears and LPF's (little pink flowers). Sorry, I'm not up on my descriptions. Steamboat had big snow this winter, though it's been hot and dry lately. Still, the north facing vegetation areas are quite robust, and I was surprised to find so many flowers, especially Columbine. I'm posting this as a separate topic as well.
I hiked the Ute trail to Timberline Pass this morning. The tundra was full of all varieties of small flowers. The closer you get to the pass, the larger and more frequent are the alpine sunflowers. Right near Timberline pass there's a rock knob to the left of the trail; near this spot there are several patches of Columbines. After the hike I drove up to Iceberg pass. There are quite a few sunflowers out at this locatin.
Many wildflowers at American basin already... I would say it will be an early year there, but not sure if there will be one consistent bloom with the typical fields of wildflowers. Right now, in small patches, you can find Indian Paintbrush, Columbine, Purple Fringe, Elephant's Head, numerous white and yellow flowers, etc. I was totally surprised by the amount and variety of flowers considering how early it is in the season. If there would have been no wind this weekend, I could have had some pretty decent classic American Basin type shots!
I drove the loop from CB to Paradise (via Slate River Rd) to Schofield Pass to Gothic and back to CB on Saturday, 6/24.
Glacier lillies were abundant at Paradise, and lupines below Gothic. Still early (and dry!) so didn't see a lot of flowers other than those. A short hike (2 miles) up toward Frigid Air Pass from the Schofield Park trailhead showed that columbines are beginning to come out, but they weren't abundant yet. They may be in a week or two, but not yet. Other than that, I only saw a few scattered paintbrush on the hike.
I just returned from a hike to Blue Lake, and the flowers along the trail are either at prime, or just after, or they could just be drooping due to lack of watter. I really don't know much about flowers, but I'm learning. Thus along the trail to Mills Lake, there are some purple flowers (real descriptive) I know they are not columbine, there are many flowers on one stalk. Bunches of what look like Daiseys, all the way up to Blue Lake, and even a pacth or two of Columbine. There were several ice burgs left in Blue Lake, although the trail was 99% clear of snow.
Maybe when I get some time, I'll post some images.
We were up at Shrine Pass and Piney Lake yesterday - there's a brief trip report in the main forum. The flowers on Shrine are looking great. Lots of rain up there yesterday, too. I'd say the flowers will be outstanding for at least another week. Paintbrush are everywhere for the first few miles west of I-70. Lots of lupine, too. Heading further west towards Red Cliff, the bluebells (hairbells?) are looking incredible, and there are fields of false hellebore that will blow you away.
The columbine on Shrine were looking a little weak, but over on the road to Piney Lake, they were much much better.
I was up at Straight Creek yesterday(which is the drainage directly north on the west side of the Eisenhower Tunnel) and the flowers were great! Lots of paintbrush and columbines and other stuff i don't know the name of. also, everything looked really healthy. I can't comment on how long it will last, but the flowers seemed to be at their peak in the first couple hundred vertical feet up from the tunnel (i can't remember what the elevation of the tunnel is though).
Posted by Joseph Kayne on July 14, 2006 at 6:02 PM
Any updated status on the Crested Butte or Ridgeway area?
Just got back from Yankee Boy, American and Ice Lake (lower) basins. Have never been to this area before to shoot flowers so my comments are relative to nothing. Also do not know the names of any flowers but can describe by color.
In a quick summary; Yankee Boy and American are OK. Ice Lake basin fantastic! Talking to others that were up at ice lake basin and have been there before got comments from "looks like a good year" to "the best I have seen in a long time".
I'm also just back from the San Juans, as said before, American and Yankee Boy are just OK-- I would say that American Basin had some better flowers. There are some really nice patches of mixed flowers, there seems to be fewer Columbines. I did see some really nice patches of Paintbrush. There are still numerous plants that appear to be getting ready to bloom and there had been some good rain up there in the last week. They seem to be blooming in spurts rather than all at once. Everything is still really green, although the amount of snow left is dwindling. I also went over Owl Creek Pass and up the West Fork and there were actually some nice flowers near the West Fork trailhead -- especially if you fancy flowers w/ tree stumps. I'll be heading up to Crested Butte this week, hopefully things are more filled in up that way.
Paul
Was up on Shrine Pass Friday for sunset. Very sparse compared to a good year (which has been a good 8 or 9 years). Hiked up to Shrine Ridge for sunrise on Sat. Worst I've ever seen up there. Not worth the hike if you're going for flowers. Sat. we were checking out Mayflower. Again, worst I've seen (especially in the open fields near the buildings). There are a few good patches of flowers along the stream to the south of the road right at the base of the peaks.
Posted by Doug Andrews on July 18, 2006 at 3:04 PM
Went up on Grand Mesa this weekend. Since I've never been up there in July before I don't know how this year compares to others, but the place was covered in wildflowers. The best areas were from Mesa Lakes to Lands End. Lots of lupine, corn lillys, and asters. A few blue columbine, paintbrush, fireweed, woods rose, foxtail barley, arnica, sunflower, and goldenrod. I was pleasantly surprised.
Posted by John De Bord on July 18, 2006 at 3:58 PM
Boreas Pass checking in and it is wildflower heaven up there....fields upon fields of them.....
Posted by Richard Bowen on July 22, 2006 at 10:30 PM
This was taken at Rainbow Gulch, near Woodland Park, CO. There were a lot of these flowers up there. If someone knows what kind of flowers they are please tell me. I managed to get a picture of a humming bird with the flower. He is hard to see at first because he blends in with the leafs.
Posted by Jan Forseth on July 23, 2006 at 10:17 PM
Hi, Rick, that is fireweed, one of my all-time favorite wildflowers. Would love to see your image of the hummer on the flower.
Okay, I'm back from the Crested Butte area and generally things are just OK. Along Gothic and Slate Rds. there are just some nice patches of flowers -- and in the best place I saw had plenty of trampled plants. I guess there were a lot of people up for wildflower week 2 weeks ago. Most of the decent groups were on the Gothic side, with the best flowers higher up on the Paradise Divide. I didn't get up to Rustler's Gulch because parking at the trailhead was literally full. On the flip side, I headed up Kebler Pass and up above Lake Irwin and struck some relative gold. Finally some nice flowers in larger groups, along with all the waterfalls and dramatic mountain backdrops this was the best place I've been thus far -- HANDS DOWN! If I were heading up again, I'd spend all my time there -- all things being realative and equal. So if your plans involve the CB area, make sure to check out the area above Lake Irwin.
Back from CB this weekend too. I have to agree with Paul regarding things overall being so-so. Washington Gulch, Gothic, Slate River, all were just "okay." I checked below Lake Irwin and while there was good flow in the waterfalls, the flower crop was lame. My "bonanza" was a small hillside I found between Paradise Basin and Schofield Pass. One small area that was the most amazing profusion of wildflowers in both abundance and variety that I've ever seen. I ended up back in this spot 4 times during the weekend. I think my truck could find that hillside without me it was there so often. Didn't have the overcast and possible rain that I was hoping for but hey, we're nothing if not adaptable. Probably the most amazing part of the weekend was that I during my travels in search of subjects, I only encountered 3 other serious photogs (using tripods and SLR cameras) and 2 of them were husband and wife. I did see lots of stuff that was trampled pretty badly so let's be careful out there. Pray for lots of snow and a wet spring next year.
Just got back from the San Juans - Alpine Loop area. The lower portions of Poughkeepsie Gulch and Picayune gulches have better wildflower concentrations than I have ever seen before. but not a lot of reds yet. American Basin looked pretty good except for the meadow just off the road below the waterfall. There was only a small patch of wildflowers where last year the whole meadow was bloomin' good. Again, the reds were not well represented.
Also, the friendly whistle pig population which lives in the rock garden contingent to the road was either gone, hiding, or sleeping except for this lady. I recognized her by the scar on her right armpit when she posed for me again..
Finally, I met up with three RMNPers at the top of Cinnamon Pass. That was fun!
I posted a little about this on another thread, but thought I'd post here too. I was in the San Juans from July 19-21 and traveled a lot of the roads near Silverton. The flowers at around 12,000 feet seemed to be at about peak and the flowers at lower elevations seemed a bit past peak. So things were a bit early this year. But with all the rain, the flowers should last a while. I have seen better years, but the flowers were the best I've seen in three or four years.
I backpacked up to Thunder and Lion Lakes area in Rocky about 10 days ago. Flowers were sparse except along outlet from Lion Lake #2. The columbine below Trio Falls were monstrous; otherwise, unimpressive. Lion Lakes is beautiful, though. I also visited Dumont Lake on Rabbit Ears Pass on Sunday. Some impressive fields of paintbrush and fireweed.
I hiked up Spring Creek Pass in the northwest corner of the Maroon Bells Wilderness Saturday. Amazing stuff. Huge fields of larkspur and sunflowers near the trailhead and nice fields of paintbrush up high. Over the top on the east Avalanche Creek side, the fields of paintbrush, lupines, and asters were thick. So much so in spots it was hard to find a campsite. The Fielder tarn from his Walk in Wilderness book is now dry, though. 13 years of drought does that, I guess.
For anyone aroudn N. Utah (or anyone planning a trip here), Albion Basin is just starting to go into peak bloom and should be good for the next week or two. Paintbrushes seem especially good this year and there are nice patches of other flowers too. Hundreds of hummingbirds in the lower part of the basin too.
Overall it's not as good as last year but still well worth a visit. The moose are out too. There's at least 4 of them roaming around.
Guy
Posted by Lee Robinson on August 3, 2006 at 11:58 AM
Jan and I hiked a ways up the Cecret Lake trail last Friday. Aside from the early-morning skeeters, it was lovely to be up in the cool air. I had hoped for more columbine, but the paintbrush, lupine and bluebells were quite prolific in several areas. We'll be there again this weekend.
Discussion
65 repliesAs you get out and about, let's see some reports and pics!
They were everywhere, in groups every 15ft or so, around Plainview Road (northwest of the intersection of Hwy 72 & Hwy 93). To my surprise I always spotted some Golden Banner and the ever common wild geranium.
Some of my pics from last week :D
Pasque Flower 01
Pasque Flower 02
Golden Banner
Wild Geranium
Jody: Last year flowers started to come out around late May - Early June at Chautauqua. The first to come were wild Iris and Golden Banners. For more images of Golden Banners visit Roxborough State Park - it usually has fields of them in late May.
And they're having a hard time pokin' through the new snow today.
It's a slow death for winter out here.
Every few years the tundra is overcome with Alpine Sunflower, and if you're into Alpine flower macros, most years are good years on Trail Ridge Road. Wild Basin is an excellent path for photographing Calypso and Bog Orchids, but again this is more macro photography...
Caribou and Caribou Ranch are decent from what little I've seen, and there are some good if isolated spots on the way up Rollinsville Pass (between Indian Peaks and James Peak Wildernesses).
Although not quite the density of more famous locations, the area around Lake Isabelle can be quite nice for flowers. Not sure of the exact timing (it may actually be in one of the aforementioned books), but I recall late July is pretty good.
Actually I seem to recall a few nice wild flowers in Evergreen when visiting last June. Here is a shot I got there of my family:
http://photos.imageevent.com/dereksurfs/coloradoinjune/huge/14Jun05_6575.jpg
Is Crested Butte still under snow in June? I was thinking of going there before or after the festival.
Derek
"Despite our chilly spring, Crested Butte’s gardens have begun to reveal their color."
Click on the link to see the image. It looks like it is starting.
Here is one more wildflower report I found on that area:
http://gunnisoncrestedbutte.com/page.php?pname=areatour/crestedbutte/wildflower/report
I am sure there are other reports. Please let us know if anyone ventures up to the high country to have a look around this May.
Thanks,
Derek
I haven't identified the names of the flowers here yet, but here's one shot I got.\:
http://www.theahls.us/Gallery/images/Austria/springmeadow_32254.jpg
Arlen
Don't know for sure but the flowers should be pretty good in Dinosaur N.M. area right now. Just had some nice rain to give things a boost.
Also, I saw some wild iris in full bloom along Leyden Rd. in Arvada, so the iris above Chautauqua should be ready now.
Dave Showalter
Dave Showalter
Other than that, not much else in bloom there.
-Jamie
70mm, f8.0, 1/250, ISO 200
If you've never been out there, it's one of the "Best Wildflower Hikes" in Colorado. It's a nice trail with some good views of the foothills, although there seems to be more mountain bikers than hikers. I'd guess that there will still be a good showing for maybe another week; a little longer if we get some rain. The yucca range from not yet open to just past prime depending on which way the particular hillside faces. The ladybugs are out IN FORCE. They're mating like crazy - I might even have some R-rated phots
Golden Gate Canyon State Park, CO:
Wild Iris - Large pockets can be seen near the Aspen Meadow Campground area. High concentration of Tiger Swallowtail butterflies flying around.
Blue Columbine - A few early blooms can be seen around the Aspen Meadow Campground. Many more will appear within the next few weeks. Last year there were large amounts of Columbine, easily numbering in the thousands!
Lupine - some about to bud
Golden Banner - large patches of this early spring flower can be seen within the valleys and shaded areas within the park.
Indian Paintbrush - some early blooms.
Chautauqua Park - Boulder, CO:
Lupine - some about to bud but many are dried out.
Golden Banner - relatively few compared to a few weeks ago.
Indian Paintbrush - Clusters near the main trail, near the beginning of the forest in shaded areas.
Yucca - Currently blooming along the trails.
I did see many other types of flowers that I do not have the names of..... Check out my Website for the latest photos from today.
Lots of water in the falls. Car park is full at the weekend by 9am.
Bill
Abundant Columbine on north facing areas, as well as wild roses and several others as you can see. Just past Dry Lake Campground is a nice meadow filled with mule's ears and LPF's (little pink flowers). Sorry, I'm not up on my descriptions. Steamboat had big snow this winter, though it's been hot and dry lately. Still, the north facing vegetation areas are quite robust, and I was surprised to find so many flowers, especially Columbine. I'm posting this as a separate topic as well.
Rod
I hiked the Ute trail to Timberline Pass this morning. The tundra was full of all varieties of small flowers. The closer you get to the pass, the larger and more frequent are the alpine sunflowers. Right near Timberline pass there's a rock knob to the left of the trail; near this spot there are several patches of Columbines. After the hike I drove up to Iceberg pass. There are quite a few sunflowers out at this locatin.
Glacier lillies were abundant at Paradise, and lupines below Gothic. Still early (and dry!) so didn't see a lot of flowers other than those. A short hike (2 miles) up toward Frigid Air Pass from the Schofield Park trailhead showed that columbines are beginning to come out, but they weren't abundant yet. They may be in a week or two, but not yet. Other than that, I only saw a few scattered paintbrush on the hike.
Maybe when I get some time, I'll post some images.
The columbine on Shrine were looking a little weak, but over on the road to Piney Lake, they were much much better.
Joe.
In a quick summary; Yankee Boy and American are OK. Ice Lake basin fantastic! Talking to others that were up at ice lake basin and have been there before got comments from "looks like a good year" to "the best I have seen in a long time".
Jim
Paul
Boreas Pass WIldflowers
Also, the friendly whistle pig population which lives in the rock garden contingent to the road was either gone, hiding, or sleeping except for this lady. I recognized her by the scar on her right armpit when she posed for me again..
Finally, I met up with three RMNPers at the top of Cinnamon Pass. That was fun!
Overall it's not as good as last year but still well worth a visit. The moose are out too. There's at least 4 of them roaming around.
Guy