Post Color Festival

So our original plan was to go hike in Arches
after the color festival,
all brightly hued.
However, the traffic going in and out of the festival was so crazy,
we didn't make it down to Moab until nightfall.
So our day in Arches was post-shower
(by then, it was Sunday morning
and we had to be presentable for church first.)
Then we had a picnic
and a nice stroll out to North Window arch
before we had to drive home.

Flowers at Zion 5: Utah Specials

Utah fleabane
(Erigeron Utahensis)--
looks like nearly every other fleabane to me,
but the nice Zion brochure was pretty clear about the species.

Then there's this one.
I *know* it's a sego lily and the state flower,
but is it Calochortus gunsonii or Calochortus nutallii?

And of course Juniperus osteosperma-
Utah juniper.
Not really a flower, but it's everywhere.

Fauna at Zion

Flora and Fauna... but sorry, no Merriweather.
However, the fauna sitings this trip were very good.
Lots of lizards, of course.
(Irrelevant aside- I always mentally hear my nephew's voice saying 'wots of wittle wizards' when I see these reptiles...)
Anyway, the lizard was hard to identify because the coloration looked like nothing in my books.
So I did some google searching (I love the internet.)
I think the lizard is a western fence lizard, or
Sceleporus occidentalis,
partly because of its keeled scales.
Did you know some animals had keeled scales
(ridges down the center of each scale)?
I didn't, before now.
So the lizards were cool.
So was the gray fox (no picture, unfortunately.)
It came around the lodge at night scrounging for scraps.
The last big animal sighting we had was the bighorn sheep,
Ovis canadensis.
This specimen was tapping its way across the slick rock of east Zion,
not far from Checkerboard Mesa.
The park website says they are kind of rare,
and please to report sightings.
So I called in. Couldn't get a live voice. Left a message.
Anyway, seeing this sheep sure made my day.
Plus we saw a stellar's jay, ravens, butterflies... it was great.

Flowers at Zion 4: Golden Columbines

I am very fond of columbines in all colors.
These golden ones grow profusely by Zion's lower Emerald Pool,
and I was fortunate enough to get terrific light and setup for the bottom picture.
I have a hard time identifying some flowers, but
Aquilegia chrysantha is an easy one to spot.

Flowers at Zion 3: The Little Yellow Flower

Little Yellow Flowers are like Little Gray Birds.
There are a lot of them,
and without my book in hand I simply cannot recall which is which.
Fortunately I remembered to take multiple views--
not just details of the blooms,
but of the leaves, and whole plant,
and scale views with my fingertip.
So, these specimens are (top to bottom):

Baileya multiradiata (desert marigold),
Chrysopsis villosa (hairy goldenaster),
Melilotus officinalis (yellow sweet clover)
-- and this stuff was everywhere--
and finally, in only one spot,
Cylindropuntia (species?- a cholla.)
I think the cholla got planted as an ornamental, on purpose,
because it was near a building structure.

Flowers at Zion 2: Penstemons

I saw at least three different kinds of penstemon,
but I only could photograph two.
The top two appear to be Penstemon utahensis,
which was on its way out of blooming in the park.
The bottom photo is Penstemon palmeri,
also called balloon flower,
and this was blooming vigorously throughout the park.
The third kind I saw was purple and on the east side
(different terrain)-
I only saw one stand of it and I was driving, and not at a place I could pull over....

Flowers at Zion: Optuntiae (Prickly Pears)

First off, the opuntiae.
I had thought I had missed the cactus blooms this year,
but apparently not--
there were still quite a few blooming at Zion in mid June.
I think that most of these are probably opuntia polyacantha.
(I confess I am not terribly good at telling subspecies apart.)
The larger bush cluster (photo 3), however,
looks more like my books' descriptions of opuntia engelmanii.

The Hike to Timp Cave

Timp Cave is a bit of a hike.
Thank goodness for the numerous benches on the trail
(although getting Ethan off the benches and up the trail was sometimes a chore,
or rather, down the trail,
as he was pretty good about going up
but complained his feet hurt, going down.)

There are some gorgeous views on that trail, though.

This is the view both up and down of the trail on the last quarter or so of the 1.5 mile hike.
In the top photo you can see the shelter over the cave entrance,
in the bottom, how steep the switchbacks are.

Timpanogos Cave

There are all sorts of cool formations in Timp cave.
Soda straws, stalactites, pools of water...

Of course the famous "heart of Timpanogos" is also pretty keen:

Here's the natural entrance to Hansen's cave
(one of the 3 caves now linked on the tour):

I was surprised how well my non-flash pictures turned out.

Dedicated photographers

This is actually a double portrait:
my brother (as a "shadowbox")
and me in the background.
I am kneeling to photograph a blossoming yucca
(you have to enlarge the photo, but I am there!)

Worth the Wait

For about five years now I have tried to get out to White Sands for backcountry camping on a full moon night. The first time I tried it we were stormed out; after that plans kept falling through, but this June is actually happened.
And it was SO worth it.
All the tediousness of detail planning paid off.

It was a gorgeous evening with beautiful light and blooming yuccas (my favorites!) and a big beautiful moon shining on the sands, and then in the morning, moonset with sunrise glow on the dunes. I was in photographers' paradise.
And I definitely want to go back!

Culture Vulture in the Red Rocks

Of course, since this was a Day Off,
I had to stop to see the local historic sites
(as well as scenic views).
So, I went to the Anasazi State Park Museum in Boulder.
The museum is nicely done, exhibits well labeled,
and they have an interesting house/storage complex
reproduced outside (above),
which I had fun poking about in until I banged my head
on the low lintel.
And I am only 5'2".
I don't see why the Anasazi, if they were really about 5'4"
(as the museum exhibits claimed),
didn't make their doorways a tad bit higher.
Aside from a bit of a whump, no damage done.

A bit less perilous, back at Capitol Reef in the Fruita area,
are the late 19th century Mormon pioneer exhibits,
like this blacksmith shop-turned tractor-shed.
It's fenced off so you can only see inside,
not explore
(but I guess it prevents unwary visitors from whacking themselves
on a horseshoe-adorned ceiling beam).

And just a bit down the road in one of the historic Mormon homesteads some enterprising person was selling freshly baked miniature pies.
Strawberry rhubarb! Yum!

Burr Trail Road to Boulder

Spectacular views!

Views of the Strike Valley

Though it was overcast for much of my drive down the Strike Valley,
the scenery was still incredible,
and the cloudscapes were also wonderful,
and it certainly made it interesting,
wondering where the sun would spotlight next.
The road was a bit washboard-y,
but perfectly passable to regular vehicles--
if you didn't mind driving 5 mph on some spots.
(I wouldn't try it when it was raining, though.)

After about 15 miles or so of unpaved road,
there is a connecting road (also dirt)
that turns west and goes up over the Waterpocket Fold,
across the Escalante Grand Staircase,
into the town of Boulder.
It's quite a drive.

Flocks of phlox

Above is a typical desert "meadow".
The flowers are growing thickly,
but not so thickly that a photo of the group is very interesting.
Add to that the flat, overcast light for much of the morning,
and I mostly went with flower closeups.
(Though my camera does a decent job with flower closeups,
the wind was blowing,
and so I took half a dozen of each view just to make sure I got one where the flower stayed steady and thus was in focus-- which added up to a LOT of pictures.)
Anyway,
here is a view of Stanisbury phlox (phlox stanisburyi):

A bit further up the road I saw this flower,
which I think is cushion phlox
(phlox pulvinata):

More Wildflowers

This one is desert paintbrush
(castilleja chromosa)- there was a lot of this.
Also tons of penstemon.
This is probably desert penstemon
(penstemon pseudospectabilis).
It was mostly bright pink,
very pretty, even on an overcast morning.

There were also vales dotted with these desert primroses,
some variety of the oenothera species--
not sure if it was the birdcage primrose or another:

And then, to my total joy,
I saw claret cup cacti as well (echinocereus triglochidiatus).
These are my FAVORITE cacti,
probably my favorite flowers.

No doubt, mid May is the time to go wildflower-looking
in southern Utah!