Salomons Seal

Reocky Mountain Iris

Low fog clung to many of the meadows on this hike after a heavy rain the night before.

Locoweed

Oxytropis, up close and personal.

Gaillarida

These 2 didn't seem to be able to agree on just where the sun was.

Pinedrops

Pterospora andromedea, of the Heath family.

Spotted Coral Root Orchid

These beauties are only about 4" tall, but a delight to find.

Little Elephant Heads

Pedicularis Groenlandica. One of my favorite wildflowers.

Bog Orchids

Another diminutive beauty found in buggy areas!

Partly Sunny

What can I say?

Yellow Paintbrush

Monkshood

Purple Penstemon

Penstemon whippleanus

Scarlet Gilia

Sunflowers at the Sand Dunes

The 3rd week in August is sunflower time at the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Sunset Over Sunflowers at the Sand Dunes

Fields of Dreams Gone Wild

This was the near part (meaning that the vast majority of the sunflowers were behind me) of a 4 mile stretch of sunflowers outside of the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Wheeler Geologic Area

This old caldera was Colorado's 1st National Monument. Due to difficult access (only 43 visitors were recorded in 1943), it lost its designation. Now it's a Wilderness Area, accessed either by an 8 1/2 mile hike or 14 mile high clearance 4WD road.

Bottle Gentians

Gentiana parryi. Survivors in a meadow that ATVs chose to drive through instead of staying on the road.