Wildflowers and Insects
Last year around this same time we hiked Button Rock Mountain and noticed an abundance of wildflowers. This isn't the first time we have found wildflowers in this area in early June, so in a hunt for wildflowers that's where our destination was today.
The full hike to the top of Button Rock Mountain is almost 9 miles, which is about double what Katie can do without serious ankle pain. So we went as far as she felt comfortable with the goal of hiking at least 3 miles. We ended up doing just over 4 and almost 1,000 feet of elevation gain. The hike was filled with wildflowers so we didn't mind that we didn't make it the whole way to Button Rock Mountain. Besides, it was a very hazy day due to both poor air quality and a lot of moisture in the air.
Luckily, the temperature was very mild. The past week has been 90+ degree days in town, and this hike wasn't that high up in the mountains. But this weekend was a little bit cooler which let us do this hike without dying from the heat. It was maybe just a little warmer than we would have liked but overall it was a comfortable hike.
4.29 mi
2.8 hrs
7,505 ft
942 ft
Morning Dew
It had rained the day prior and with the humidity high all the flowers had dew on them. This is a Cinquefoil flower.
Columbine
There were a lot of blooming Columbines in the area.
False Solomon's-Seal
This was a new wildflower for me. The False Solomon's-Seal looks more like a regular plant before it shoots up some flowers.
Buttery Background
I was shooting primarily with my 35mm lens, which is the only lens I have that's labeled as a macro lens. All 3 of my prime lenses do pretty well for macro, but I can get a little more zoomed in with my 35mm. That lens also gives very smooth, buttery background, like shown for this Shooting Star flower.
Golden Banner
There was a lot of Golden Banner, and with the sun behind it, the Golden Banner is even more golden.
Filmy Dome Spider
I had my eyes out during the hike for good spider webs. I found this spider not too far off the trail and spent quite a bit of time trying to get it perfectly in focus.
Snapdragon Skullcap
We hadn't seen this wildflower before, but there were a lot of them. They were small and stayed close to the ground, but their vibrant purple color made them stand out.
Wild Wife
In our search for wildflowers, Katie let her wild self out.
Crane's-Bill
This is a type of Geranium.
Stacked
These 3 Larkspur were stacked on top of each other.
Cuckoo Wasp
I found this turquoise Cuckoo Wasp on a Golden Yarrow.
Wild Iris
Katie's main goal was to find some wild Iris's. We have seen them in this area before, but they were tricky to find. We had to venture into a field to find these, and we only found a couple of them and all but one were close to the end of their life.
Little Bit of Mountains
Canyon
I climbed up on a rock to see if we could find the other trail to hike back on. I both found the trail and found a great view of the canyon.
Longs and Meeker
On the way back we took a different trail to make it a loop. The wildflowers were worse on this trail, but we did get a spectacular view of Longs Peak (to the right) and Meeker (partially covered by the cloud).
