July 18 - Lamb's Canyon

My last day of vacation and I'm heading to Lamb's Canyon today. I haven't been there for a few weeks, can't wait to see what's flying and blooming.

It's around 9:30 and 63 degrees when I start my hike.

There is no butterflies in the mud puddles by the parking -- probably because its barely in the sun at this point - this is a rare north/south canyon so the sun needs to make it over mountain first.

The forest canopy and floor have filled out -- this is the time of year I love when the vegetation cover all or part of the trail and my legs get tickled by all the leaves.

Lots of Geraniums -- definitely the dominant flower today. Probably followed by the lupine -- which I find in full bloom and with seed heads depending the elevation of the trail. And then followed by the white umbel of flowers of the Cow Parsnip. These plants can reach 6-7ft tall in the right conditions are there are plenty of tall ones along the trail today.

Down by the creek, the purple flowered Monkshood is blooming. Love this plant. Some of them are taller than me. 

The trail is still pretty shaded so I'm not expecting many butterflies but I do see a few Frits flying - Great Spangled and Northwestern (I think) and a Zerene - it had really strong/bold marking.

I see some purple aster; they look different from the ones I've been seeing in the mountains - more petals.

The pink hollyhocks seem to be blooming for a second time - from the bottom of the trail to the top.

Weidenmeyer's Admiral were out in good numbers this morning as were the Paranassians -- either last year was a bad year for them or this year's a really year because I'm seeing them in good numbers here and other locations. I've also realized that I'm seeing Parnassians with black antenna and others with black & white antenna. The black antenna ones is
the Clodius Parnassian.

and the white/black ones are Rocky Mt Parnassians (or in some circles Phoebus Parnassian)

I'm seeing the Clodius in the canyon and the Rocky Mt on top.

I see a few Field Crescents and Lilac Bordered Coppers as well.

The Thimbleberry is now past bloom and are forming delicious fruits.

I find a few Fireweed plants in bloom !

The Baneberry plants are forming seeds/berries now. I see ripe red ones and ripening green ones.

The view from on top was hazy as the smoke from the fires in WA and OR blow our way. Lots for flowers are blooming: Gernaniums, Mints, etc.

On the way down, I find a fresh Fir cone -- its still cool and the scales are flexible - love the colors. Must've just fallen from a tree.

The downhill was more fun as there were a few more butterflies out. Still far below the numbers from last year this time. (I checked my notes from last July 4th and there were tons of bflies out.) Is it a bad year for bflys, is it because everything is behind because the snow hung around long, maybe I'm too or is it something else? Guess I'll just have to see if the numbers increase of the next few weeks.

But there were lots of bfly chases -- Frits vs Frits, Frits versus Coppers, Coppers vs Crescents vs Northern Checkerspots. At one point there two sets of Frits chasing, swirling, then they mergs into one group circling for a bit before they split up. Very interesting.

Met a guy who walks this trail several times a week and asked him why they are breakinga new trail. He said he saw the work crew the other day and they told him its because of the large amount of traffic on this trail mostly because of the Ultra Marathon 100 miles Great Western race. The trail frequently washes out so they are rebuilding to accommodate the traffic. (What traffic? Other than the race -- tell them to "man up",  they're running an Ultra Marathon, leave the natural trail for everyone else. The man agreed with me. Oh well, progress is supposed to be good - right?)

Saw just a few Blues (lowest numbers all year) and a few Russet's Skipperlings.

Back to the parking lot, I check the mud again. Not much but a couple of Russet's and a Woodland Skipper (which is new for me at this sight).

Behind the parking area there were 2 Frits doing mating dance. Female on the ground with the male wiggled his wings and slowly moving around her. Watched for a few minutes and then left them in peace.

As always, good day!