slightly subdued

I have been missing hiking a lot lately, what with my ankle still not 100%.  By the time the second weekend of the Wasatch Wildflower Festival rolled around, I couldn't stand it anymore.  Leaving H to give Milton a good morning walk, I was out the door and up at Alta before 7 a.m. on Saturday.  The previous weekend of the wildflower festival had been at Solitude and Brighton; this weekend, it was at Snowbird on Saturday, and Alta on Sunday, so I knew I should be avoiding most of the crowds.  

Bluebells

The wildflowers in the Cottonwood Canyons are usually spectacular this time of year (see here and here for a couple of prior year examples).  This year, however, with the long, hard winter and super-deep snowpack, the flowers are at least a couple of weeks behind where they would normally be.

Sedge (not a grass)

There were lots of bluebells and marsh marigolds (I think) in the wetter areas, a few paintbrush here and there, some geraniums and buttercups, some early lupine and a couple others, including some gentian spires that were not even close to blooming.  That was it, really, on the route I took from Albion base, through the Albion meadows, up to Germania Pass and down through Collins Gulch.  In a less overwhelmingly snowy year, I would be listing fifty varieties or more.  It was sure green, though, and when the flowers do show up, it'll be glorious.  

This field will eventually be full of

sunflowers, horsemint, paintbrush,

lupine and penstemon.  Now it's

just red elderberry (maybe?)

To be honest, I think folks coming up to Alta for the wildflower festival were probably disappointed.  I wasn't, though.  I'll be back later to see the flowers, of course, but just getting up there, in the clear air and incredibly pleasant temperatures, with the sunshine, the birds and all the green, made for a very excellent morning.

Buttercup