Flowers and Butterfly Love

Besides a great place to meet the kids and go for a hike, Daniel's Pass has beautiful wildflowers this time of year. Above is a field behind the lodge, covered with Mule's Ears, daisy-like yellow flowers, so named because the shiny leaves are shaped like a mule's long ears. 

Common Camas  Camassia quamash

Camas is a member of the lily family.  These flowers bloom densely in moist ground.  From a distance, an entire meadow has a faint blue-violet color, as you may be able to see in the photo above.  Native Americans pit-roasted the bulbs, bland in flavor, and also boiled them to yield a tasty syrup. 

Douglas' Triteleia  Triteleia douglasii

Triteleia are also of the Lily family.  We saw them on the same walk.  They grow on drier ground, among the sage or in pine forests.

Apollo Butterflies

Where flowers grow, butterflies flit.  This pair seems to be embracing.  Steve spotted them fly together in the air, then flutter softly to the ground as one.  Such is love in the land of wildflowers.

A Family Hike

Daniel's Summit Lodge makes a good place to meet up with our Salt Lake kids and grandkids for a Sunday afternoon hike. 

The visiting is fun.

Riding on Papa's shoulders is always interesting.

 There are plenty of insects to be found,

Some of us needed a walking stick.

Then there's rock chunking, with plenty of opportunity to get good and muddy.

And when the exploring's over, there's a tailgate picnic,

and some good relaxation time.

Ah, this is the life!

Woodsy Weekend

We met up with the little Munchkin and her family near Daniels's Pass over the weekend. 

Here she is, learning her compass skills from Grandpa:

"Okay," she burbles, "I think I've got it!":

Getting her into her baby backpack is a lot of work:

But she's soon(er or later) ready to go:

Momma duck sent her young'uns out to play, too:

We walked through big meadows full of mules ear in bloom:

The doggies found a perfect place to satisfy their fetching fixation:

Ornate checkered beetles were out enjoying the pollen.  This one was on a chokecherry blossom:

And we found a new (to us) flower to celebrate the day, a Douglas' Triteleia:

Daniel's Summit

For the last couple of months, we had only seen this grandbaby on webcam:
So, to remedy that sad situation, we met the Munchkin and her parents at Daniel's Summit Lodge for a hike and some serious grandbaby visiting:
The scenery was grand: 
The company was grander:
A western tanager wanted to join the party:
The glacier lilies danced:
The springbeauties smiled:

After a little complaining about the new baby backpack carrier, all was well in Munchkinland, even if the sunscreen was applied a little thick and the sunglasses didn't fit: