For a short time I thought about posting photos of all of the wildflowers I encountered on the trail to Pear Lake, but upon counting them and finding that there were 35 different species, I decided instead to just post two sets, leaving out many whose photos I have posted before including Glacier Lilies and Springbeauties which bloomed at the lower elevations months ago but are now in full bloom among the snowbanks that remain on the high ridge just before the trail drops down to Pear Lake.
Harebells, Bluebells of Scotland, Campanula rotundifolia
Clustered Thistle, Cirsium brevistylum
Poison Hemlock, Conium maculatum
Pearly Everlasting, Anaphalis margaritacea
Pipsissewa, Prince’s Pine, Chimaphila umbellata
Ocean Spray, Holodiscus discolor (These are blossoming shrubs and their large clusters of blooms decorate many hillsides this time of summer)
When the sun was setting that night there was quite a change in colors, from the gold (the first photo in this group was the first shot I took) to the pinks and blues and purples as it progressed. And right in the middle of the whole thing, the sky to the north, under a thunderstorm that had begun to gather, the sky was different yet, as seen in the third photo. I don’t claim to understand all of it, just to admire.
For many years I have found it to be true that one of the best parts of an outdoor experience is the night before it starts, and last night’s stay at the Blossom Lakes trail head before today’s hike to Blossom Lakes and Pear Lake in the Evan’s Gulch Roadless Area was not an exception.
Sunset from the Montana/Idaho line
Today’s trip was one of those “150 photo” trips and this is the first of a series of posts about the trip and that area of western Montana.
