Colorado or bust!: Hike 3: C. Creek to M. Park and back via D. Trail

Zou and I got pretty hot and tired on this trail. It was about 8.5 miles long with a 2100 ft. gain.

Most of these pretty flowers (evening primrose) had expired, but I did find one that was still 'in session'...

The first part of the trail climbs up along red rock cliffs.

I thought I knew what this flower was, but I don't! It looks like apache plume, but those are shrubs - these were solitary flowers...?

Scarlet gilia.

Penstemon in a rare and very pretty shade of blue.

Zou checks out the creek below.

There are a lot of dead trees in the forests here these days. From what I've read it's beetle kill, but what exactly is prompting that, is uncertain - drought, old age forest, too much fire prevention... (for more, you can check out this article: http://fourcornersfreepress.com/news/2011/121104.htm). It sounds like it's just a natural progression thing. But it's still a bummer!!

Some mines are easily visible on the slopes across the valley. It's amazing the steep cliffs they excavated into! Has to make you wonder how in the world they got themselves and all their equipment up there!?! Where there's a will (and there's always a will when there's gold or silver...!), there's a way, I guess!

Zouey cruises through some scrub oak, glowing in the morning light.

We come to an interesting rocky area next to the trail, with a few collapsed shelters of sorts.

Wild rose and, no doubt, wild bugs.

Zou Bug passing by some more penstemon (more purple this time than blue).

Pretty peaks off to the side.

And looking back at the blooms.

We rest up in a shady spot. Zouey is overheated and needs a break - she does her best to lay down on the sort of steep trail and not slide down!

We come to a beautiful, green-filled forest. Ferns and baby corn lilies cover the ground, while white-barked aspen trunks stick out all over. It was here that Zou started acting a little funny, like she sensed (smelled, heard?) that someone else was in there with us...

Looking back through the softly glowing forest...

A slightly apprehensive Zou...?

It's been a hot slog up the hill, so we take a detour to a creek so Zou can cool off a bit and get a good cold drink.

We find some colorful columbine (Aquilegia formosa, vs. the famous Colorado blue caerulea).

And this sign... What?!!!!!!!!!! I had read that this was a hunter's camp, but I saw no remnants of facilities or any recent encampment. Just this sign. Was this someone's idea of a joke? Or are our forests now stained with the same political correctness insanity that rules the rest of our habitats?! As far as I knew, that was the very nature of nature - as unbiased and inclusive as it gets!! ANYONE is invited to marvel at the beauty, be transported by the peace and solitude, get lost, fall off a cliff, get stung/bitten/killed,...!!!

Gorgeous green. And a tiny spash of cute brown. Can you spot her (you know by now, of course, who I'm referring to!)?

A wild geranium (Geranium richardsonii) - very common to these trails.

The hills are alive with the sound of Zouey...

and of something else?! Zouey keeps looking around suspiciously...

Up and...

over...one of the many downed trees we're seeing this year.

A wet area covered in heartleaf bittercress (yes, I finally identified it!), cow parsnip, and some kind of berry plants (thimbleberry, I'm guessing).

Zouey sizes up the challenge of getting over yet another fallen tree.

Zou sniffs everywhere EXCEPT the dark-colored pile (smart dog?). What is that pile anyways? Or should I say, WHO left it - and WHEN?!! That, my friends is bear scat, and just one of four piles we saw on this part of the trail. At first, judging by the color and "quality" (not too weathered or broken apart,...), I thought it might be freshly laid. But when I poked at it (with a stick! Oh c'mon! Did you think I used my finger?! I may indeed be a Nature Girl, but...), it was very dry, so who knows how old it was...

As I may have already stated, I am learning that being here this early in the season, you avoid the worst of the crowds - but you also avoid the majority of the wildflowers! To soften the blow, you do get to see some that I don't think generally show up in July and August, like these white violets.

And these beautiful blue violets - one of my favorites, thanks to my beloved grandma who had such a pretty, sweet-smelling patch of them by her bedroom window. I transplanted some, hoping to keep them into perpetuity, but alas I ultimately lost them, as I did my grandma...

Is this where the bear went? Inquiring dog and human minds want to know...

SO many trees obviously came crashing down this past winter! We are finding them on almost all the trails. Big, healthy aspens, furry firs and spruce, young and old,... Apparently, they had heavy snows early in the season - snows that brought down giants...

After exhaustive (or at least exhausting?!) research, I can say that these flowers don't exist. I made them up. I can't find them anywhere! But they're pretty even if illusory!

And we come to our end goal. No bighorn sheep or elk in the meadow as promised, but loads of corn lilies!

Zoey confirms our destination by the presence of a couple posts (the other is in the distance downhill).

I love the corn lily foliage! And a whole field of them is just luxurious, rich!

And the best bloom of all...

OK, all the good things I said about her...??! Look at this stinker - literally! Wading through deep marshy mud. Lovely! Thanks Mizzou!

After such capers, she does resemble a red fox - black stockings and all - don't you think?

Another absolute flower (and color) favorite of mine - electric blue larkspur. We're too early for the really tall stalks of larkspur/delphinium that usually litter the lush hillsides here, but at least we're being treated to really intense color with these smaller versions.