July 31 - The Circular Hike - Oops!

Well this is a happy unexpected Thursday off -- long story (that I don't quite understand) but the result is that I had my 40hr completed Wed = work week done.

Now what to do with myself. We've had 2 nice days of rain and cool temps -- no A/C, windows open - beautiful. But there is moisture in the air which means afternoon storms possible in the mountains (40-50% chance). But I'm going to the mountains. Thought about Albion Basin again (this time getting up Sunset Peak) but it was REALLY last night and still is this morning. Not wanting to be on top of anything with it blowing so hard. Not interested in Lake Mary but the hike from below Lake Mary to Twin Lakes is something new and interesting or I can just go directly up to Twin Lakes Pass from Solitude Resort.

Want to do something new -- Lake Mary to Twin Lakes is the goal.

The trail starts at Brighton Ski Resort and climbs to just before getting to Lake Mary. The trail should then follow the ski basin around to Twin Lakes. Sounds easy. :)

Very sunny (and windy) when I leave. But as I near the Solitude and Brighton Ski Resorts (they are right next to each other) there are already clouds building and it's only 9am.

There's a handful of cars in the parking area. Today's obstacle: they have these huge sprinklers watering the lawn and the start of the trail. Should be easy to time then and then sprint thru the section, but its uphill (that's tiring). So I walk in the grass just out of the sprinkler range -- and I wasn't the only person to do this as there was a nice damp flattened grassy section to follow. Once thru, it's just uphill for about a mile.

Today however, although not in full bloom yet, there is a mountain of flowers to look at. And they all have the morning dew (or last night's rain) still on them. The sun is patchy as it peaks in and out of some no-so-white clouds.

There is the blue of lupine, the pink of Fireweed and lots of mint, geraniums, tons of petal-less Western Coneflower in full bloom (with that ring of yellow on the cone), patches of the red Paintbrush, lots of yellow composites, ...., and purple Monkshood standing tall above all other flowers. Beautiful!!

I get to a little stream and there's Pink Monkeyflower blooming. And huge patches of lupine.

I turn to go to Dog Lake -- have to take a look  for moose. Surprising to me, there wasn't a lot of flowers --- it is a lot drier on this section of trail. As near, I do see the pond still exists and it will maybe thru the rest of summer. I don't immediately see any moose but start my scan by looking right. I see a person in the blue jacket w/ camera on other side of the lake looking to my left. I quickly look left and sure enough about 30-40 yards away is a moose!!! A young male but he has a larger rack than the 2 young males I saw in the Albion Basin a week or so ago.

He's looking my way

but I find a rock to sit on and watch. He's out for his morning grazing (though I'm not sure if an animal this large ever stops grazing). He's not in the water but in the vegetation just off the left shore - and he's in the shade. I'm just enjoying the feeding frenzy from behind the camera lens.

I see him opening his mouth to grab leaves and/or branches. At times, it looks like his head is just resting on top of the vegetation but its only for seconds.

After a while, he starts to move slowly into the sun but soon, he is out of my view. So I backtrack up the trail to the other trail that goes along the other side of the pond (where the other person is standing). I can see him much better now. There are also 2 other ladies watching with me.

He's hard to spot now as he is moving thru taller trees but we find him again just before he breaks into the open. He's in the open now and looking pretty content.

And then continues grazing until he's out of sight. Very exciting!!!

Now back to business, Twin Lakes. The Twin Lakes trail climbs up the far side of the Lake Mary dam (the trail to Lake Mary is on the opposite side of the dam). Near the dam, is a small log cabin. It boarded up - not sure what it was or is used for (maybe its open during ski season).

This is definitely a different view of Lake Mary. But she's still pretty even with dark clouds hovering.

After leaving the rocky lake shore, I enter a thick forest. This is exciting for me because there's some good stuff in forests. And sure enough I find the yellow stalks of an Early Coralroot.

The plant is in bloom with a flower with a white lip. The plant is a parasitic plant getting energy from fungi feeding on rotting organic matter. It also has some chlorophyll so it can capture energy thru the sun. Pretty cool plant.

I'm winding thru the forest when the trail heads down a kinda steep slope. As I head down, I find several Wood Nymph plants (or One-flowered Wintergreen). The plant has a single white flower that hangs down.

I turn the flower over for a look.

Well, I can't find my trail. Not sure where it went, so I backtrack to see if I can find something that looks like a trail. I think I found the right trail and continue on.

I find another Wintergreen (Green-flowered Wintergreen); this one has more than one flower on its stalk and is taller.

I continue and soon see a dam and water and I can't believe I'm at Twin Lakes already. Problem is, my navigating skills stink today and I realize that I managed to loop myself around back to Lake Mary. Oops!!! Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be today.

What to do now? Its after 11am, the clouds are filling in and lowering (rain?). Guess, I'll enjoy the flowers on the way down (they are mostly in the sun now) and head home. I've had a great day - moose and forest flowers!!

The flowers are much better in the sunlight :)

Close to the end, I spot a hummingbird nectaring on Mint.

Great day!