Stormy Afternoon

At 11 o'clock, only a few clouds loomed over the Uinta Mountains. We hoped to steal enough time from the week's rainy weather to ride part of the way up Big Ridge, a trail in the Lake Fork drainage. We began our ride at 7000 feet. The ridge itself is about 11,000 feet, so we expected to reach snow well before the top.
The aspens were dressed in new green.

Serviceberry bushes (which produce an edible berry that Native Americans used to make pemmican) bloomed along Lake Fork Creek,

and wild blue flax adorned the banks.
The hills were alive with yellow balsamroot,
and Indian paintbrush.

By 1 PM, after we'd ridden 5 miles and 1600 feet up the mountain, dark clouds took the place of white, puffy ones.

We made our way down the mountain as a storm brewed over the High Uintas, looming over the Lake Fork wetlands.
As we crossed the creek on the drive home, raindrops dimpled the pools stilled by a series of beaver dams.

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