Montgomery Pass & lots of butterflies (Rocky Mountain Parnassian & the Northern Blue Butterfly)

Views from the pass:

The Montgomery pass hike starts with a swampy muddy area (perhaps due to recent weather) then runs along a stream for a ways before heading up and up.

 The stream was a good place to get the mud off of their feet.

 The Indian Paintbrush were out in full force with almost every color available for your viewing pleasure.

Marsh Marigold:

 Cow Parsnip:

  Groundsel

 Tall Chiming Bells:

 Bitter Cress:

 The saucy one and the rest of us made it to the top.

 I don't think I've seen so many butterflies/moths in the tundra before.  Look at the variety!
Rocky Mountain Parnassian

Northern Blue Butterfly (Plebejus idas):

Yellow Stonecrop:

 After the hike we stopped in the stream by the side of the road across from the parking lot to clean our feet and just relax.

 Yellow Monkeyflower:

 These strawberries were growing right next to the side of the road!  I didn't know they could grow at 10,000 ft.  I couldn't figure out why some bird or animal hadn't eaten them.

Hike: Montgomery Pass
Trails Used: Montgomery Pass around Cameron Pass

Distance: 4.33 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Overall average: 1.9 mph
Overall Time: 2 hr, 17 min
Total Ascent: 1152 ft.

Pack Trail

 Took the kids for a hike up in Rist Canyon this weekend.  On the GPS map it is called the Pack Trail but I'm not sure if that is correct or not.  We didn't really have a destination in mind...just someplace relatively close and somewhere I could find some good landscaping rocks.  We found both!  It's a good thing it was close since we went up a supposedly easy jeep trail (in my Dodge truck) and ended up turning around so we didn't get stuck out there.  That definitely added some time to our trip!

Our hike started late (11:45) so we decided to break for lunch before we even took a step.  This large rock was the perfect spot.

We saw some beautiful wildflowers.

I don't know what these flowers were going to look like but I like their bursting sack.

I liked this thistle's geometry and color.  Very cool.  I wish I could have gotten my camera to give me crisp focus on that last photo but it was not meant to be!

The bugs were amazing!  I can't believe my camera wouldn't focus on the picture above but gave me this fantastic one of the ant below.

This paper wasp next was just sitting in the middle of the trail.  Good thing we didn't step on it!

No hike would be fit for kids unless we had water to walk through, caves and rocks to climb on.

Hike: Pack Trail

Trails Used:  

Distance: 3 miles

Difficulty: Difficult
Overall average: 1.5 mph
Overall Time: 1 hr, 57 min
Total Ascent: 634 ft.