The electric blue flowers of the Alpine Forget-Me-Not (Eritrichium nanum) are easy to spot in the stark, rocky tundra above treeline in Colorado’s high mountains. The flowers, which can also occasionally be found in white, grow low to the ground on thick mats of fuzzy gray-green leaves to help ensure survival in the harsh alpine enviroment.
Alpine Forget-Me-Not, Mount Evans, July 2011
Alpine Forget-Me-Not, Mount Evans, July 2011
Alpine Forget-Me-Not, Mount Evans, July 2011
We’re been having some really amazing downpours in this area lately. Here are some shots I took when I was coming down from Mount Evans on Sunday. I had stopped at the Dos Chappell Nature Center to check out the flower garden there and I got caught about halfway around the nature loop in a torrential downpout that briefly turned into hail. Thunder has such a different quality up in the mountains. It echos and rolls on forever. Very impressive. I was glad I wasn’t on TOP of the mountain. I was able to get to the nature center building to wait out the storm and then I did the nature loop again.
New Kid on the Block
I mentioned yesterday that the main reason I like to go up to Mount Evans is to see the mountain goats. My second favorite part is the flowers. Above-the-treeline flowers are such amazing, hearty little things. It’s incredible that they can even survive in such a harsh environment, let alone produce such beautiful and colorful blooms. Following are a few of the different type of wildflowers we saw up there:
Alpine Spring Beauty
Alpine Forget Me Nots
Alpine Spring Beauty close up
Fairy Primrose
Marsh Marigold
Purple Fringe
Alpine Lily
That’s all from this visit to Mount Evans. Click HERE to see the full gallery. I’ve decided to go back up there today, so keep checking back for even MORE Mount Evans photos!
The primary reason I make the drive up the Mount Evans Scenic Byway every year is the goats. A herd of 100+ mountain goats lives on and around the slopes of Mount Evans and early July seems to be the best time to see them up close. There are often mountain goats milling about the top near the parking lot, and other times they’re grazing near the road a little farther down the mountain. They can be kind of hard to spot because they blend in quite well with the light-colored boulders.
When my mom and I arrived at the parking lot, there was only one yearling mountain goat nearby, which I accidentally scared off. Oops. So we photographed a marmot instead.
We hadn’t been on top of the mountain for very long when darkish clouds started to roll in and we were ordered off the mountain due to the danger of lightning.
We headed back down the mountain, but very soon saw some cars parked along the road. Multiple cars parked along the road is a good sign that there is something to see there, so we stopped and, sure enough, we saw a small group of goats – two adult females, a yearling, and a baby.
I just LOVE the goats. I’m going to try to make it up to Mount Evans once more before the month is over.
I still haven’t made much progress in getting through the hundreds of photos I took up at Mount Evans on Wednesday. I’ll start with some shots I took at the two spots where I always stop on the way TO Mount Evans. One is a big ol’ meadow and the other is called Juniper Pass where there is a large outcropping of rock with lots of pretty rock-gardeny flowers.
More tomorrow!
My mom and I went up to Mount Evans yesterday, one of my favorite drives in all of Colorado. I haven’t had time to go through the 900+ photos I took yet, but so far, this image of Alpine Sunflowers, aka Old Man of the Mountain, is my favorite:
More photos from Mount Evans tomorrow!
Lofty Perch
You must know by now that I can’t go anywhere in Colorado in the summer without photographing wildfllowers, and Mount Evans was no exception. I especially love alpine flowers.
Alpine spring beauty
Queen's crown
King's crown
Frosty ball
Alpine wallflower
Alpine forget-me-not
Alpine sunflower, aka old-man-of-the-mountain
OK, how about some photos sans goats?
Alpine Sunflowers and the Continental Divide
South Park (no, not that South Park, the other South Park)
(although, FYI, the TV South Park WAS named after this South Park)
The Gore Range
I’m almost halfway through the photos I took on Sunday’s trip to Mount Evans. The pressure is on, as I am planning another hike for Friday and will probably take another 800 to 1,000 photos. At least there won’t be goats.
