Aug 1 - A Close Encounter of the Mama Moose-Kind (Mormon Trail)

Should really go to the mountains today since its a Friday and will be less crowded, but I'm just don't feel like climbing. So I decide to head to the Mormon Trail --- I haven't been there in almost a month, time to see what's blooming and flying today.

Sunny morning. As I drive down the dirt road to the trailhead, I see 2 Sandhill cranes flying and heading south. Not a bad start.

The parking lot has only car so the trail is all mine today!!!

As I start the trail I see a little orange skipper - a Woodland Skipper; one of many, many today.

These butterflies are late season flyers; yes, summer is ending in the mountains soon.

As I was watching, a hummingbird flew up (about 3 feet from me) and hovered by my head before flying off into the trees. (I was wearing tan and blue, I definitely don't look like a flower.)

I haven't seen a Mourning Cloak in long time; today I see two within feet of each other. Perhaps they both just emerged from their pupas today. They are fresh and gorgeous.

The Clover that was dominant a month ago is pretty well bloomed out. The lupine are going to seed. The goldenrod and other yellow composites are in bloom. And lots of purple asters. (Typical fall colors, yellow and purple.) The mint is also in bloom and attracting bflies.

I'm just walking along the curvy trail following the dry streambed and 30 feet ahead of me, a female moose crosses the trail from the right. I immediately stop -- seriously excited. The only thing between us is a few small aspen trees (i.e., not much protection). We just stare at each other.

I can hear her breathe. My heart is beating like crazy; I'm wondering if she has a calf. The mom grunts and then I hear a "Mew" and the calf crosses the trail. Holy crap -- this is incredible and at the same time extremely dangerous. I've heard plenty of stories of Moose mom charging people to protect their calf and I'm 30 feet away.

I'm not sure what to do. Staying, I'm totally exposed. If I head back down the trail, again exposed. I turn and there's a old large cottonwood tree about 5 feet away. I back up slowly to the tree and get behind the far side. If she charges, at least we can play a little ring around the rosy. I watch from behind the right side of the tree as I want to stay covered but I have to know where she's at.

I'm pretty sure she's agitated as she's grunting and snorting and breathing heavy. It's seems like forever before she finally moves a few steps to the right and then stops when my camera automatically shut-offs (a nice electronic wind and the lens retracts -Ugh). Again, she's staring down the tree.

The calf makes the "Mew" sound again and moves right and the Mom follows. The Mom stops for a scratch with her back leg, I can hear the foot hitting herface. (Does that really feel good?!) I thought they might just head right across the little basin but no, they're moving in my directoin. So every step they take, I have to move left around the tree; still keeping a watch so she doesn't pull any tricks. Problem is, I'm in rocks so every step I take makes noise and they stop and look my direction (still only 20-30 feet away).

Finally, we've switched starting points (I'm now on the opposite side of the tree and they are slowly wandering away.) Now is my time to head up trail and quickly. I thought about stepping into the open to snap a pix or two but I'm very happy with the images and sounds in the imprinted in my brain. This is something I will NOT forget. But I don't want to take a chance and end up in tonight's news "Woman trampled by Moose" or worse, be a contender for the Darwin Awards :) But that was pretty INCREDIBLE!!!

Many Frits flying today. I see both the male and female Great Spangled Frit. Tons of White Common Checkered Skippers. And the Wood Nymphs are out - I have to figure out which ones. Lots of sulphers today -- many are nectaring and I keep scaring them up (I need to spot them nectaring so I can get a look at them.)

There are a few Mylitta Crescents, Lilac Bordered Coppers, Blue Coppers (a first for me in UT), and a Field Crescent flying with the Frits.

I see this large grey bird fly into a tree in front of me. Definitely a bird of prey. He flies as soon as I get my camera on him. I think he might be a Northern Harrier. Big bird!

A Two-tailed Swallowtail is nectaring on thistle.

I spot some tall milkweed in bloom - don't remember them last year.

Plenty of Police Car moths out but they are pretty beaten up and will be done flying soon.

In a little field opening, there are Wood Nymphs, Sulphers and a Variegated Frit flying. That's the 1st Variegated Frit that I've seen in UT.

I'm coming up to the little wet grassy area near the bench where I eat lunch. As I climb the little hill, I can see a male deer (still in velvet) entering the grassy area. He immediately hears me and turns my way. I can him stretch his neck and raise himself on his back legs to get a better view of me

and then he's off into the woods -- all I hear is a snort!

After a quick lunch, I start heading back. I see a couple of Satyr Commas and a Milbert's Tortioseshell.

When I get back to the camp pond, there are many dragonflies flying.

And many Wood Nymphs nectaring. These are Small Wood Nymphs.

I'm on the last part of the trail now and spot some more Milkweed. I go in for a closer look and find a Coral Hairstreak (my 1st in UT).

These guys look a little different than the ones in the East as they have orange spots on the upperwing and less black spots.

Unbelievable day, Sandhill Cranes, buzzed by a hummer, Mama moose encounter, great bflies, and a male deer - can't beat that!!!

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!

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!

July 17 - Albion Basin

Heading to Albion Basin today and heading up to Catherine's Pass (and maybe beyond).

Albion Basin is at the end of Little Cottonwood Canyon. Access is by a summer road which opened only a week or so ago. It's a mountain basin and when summer comes it's supposed to be a rock star for mountain flowers. I went last year but it was after the peak of bloom. The Alta Flower Festival is July 25-27 this year so I'm just a week early.  But today is as good as any to see what's blooming.

Yes, I can get to Catherine's Pass from Big Cottonwood Canyon (Brighton Ski Resort) but today is all about flowers. There are no lakes on this trail, just mountains and peaks to see.

The dirt/gravel road winds its way up a mountain. The wildlife is supposed to be pretty good up here too. Last year I saw several deer on my ride.

I'm looking for wildlife as I drive up and see a Blazer pulled off to the side of the road. As I get closer, I can see a camera hanging out the car window and, on the road, a lady holding onto a leash with a dog that's in the flower barking up a storm and trying to race uphill. I'm thinking maybe a moose but after stopping my car, I see a single coyote not too far up the hill -- perfectly blended into the landscape (and the shade of mountain). The coyote is just sitting in the flowers

barking and howling back at the dog.

It's pretty interesting to watch -- the coyote seemingly calm and the dog below going crazy.

The coyote barks and howls. This went on for several minutes before the dog owner decided it was time to continue the walk and leave the coyote alone.

When they left, the coyote got up and trotted a few paces after them but stopped and continued to howl off and on. Very interesting and fun to watch.

I continue up the road and watch a marmot cross the road into the vegetation -- the morning is starting off right!

There are a few cars in the parking lot already but still mostly empty. It's about 50 degrees but sunny out as I start the trail. At the start of the trail, there is lupine, a white/pink Gilia, a deep blue penstemon, blue flax, paintbrush, a couple of species of buckwheat (yellow or cream flowers), cinquefoils, daisys/sunflowers, and many more -- but they are sporadic perhaps because the terrain is dry/pebbly. I'm sure the flowers will fill-in as I go higher.

And I climb. Its about 900 ft in a 1.5 miles to Catherine's Pass (that beats 1500ft in 2.5 miles if I left from Brighton).

As I get a little further down, the flowers do start filling in as Geraniums, Mountains Bluebells, Tall Bluebells, Mints, Towering Jacob's Ladder, Nuthall's Flaxflower, Green Gentian (or Elkweed) and Asters are added to the ever growing flower list.(I've really learned my flower's today since I've found a Forest Service Albion Basin flower list -- very helpful, yea!)

I see a bird with a red cap and wings -- it's a Cassin's Finch (a mountain finch).

I ask a man coming the opposite direction if he saw any moose and he tells me to go about 100ft and look down into the valley, there should be two. And sure enough, two moose!!!! They are walking towards the forest below. Both are young males, one with a little set antlers and the other with little knobs. But they are walking together.

They even stop a couple of times to butt heads.

Preparing themselves when they are older. I just watch them slowly walk across the grassy patch and disappear into the woods. My 1st moose in Albion Basin!!!!

I come across a wet area and there are Elephant's head, Bog Orchid, CO Columbine, Western Columbine (yellow flower) and lots of Hellebore (still not in bloom).

And the flowers just continue on up towards the Pass. In the meadows, up the mountain sides, everywhere I look. Pretty impressive - and its just starting - lots of plants without blooms yet.

As I finally come up to Catherine's Pass, I see a hummingbird perched on a tree branch. But he doesn't stay long.

The Pass is beautiful even with the sun still not even close to its peak. All the snow is gone now, just all green and the colors of flowers.

After take a short rest, I continue on up towards Sunset Pass; I want to see the portion of the Great Western Trail I was on last time.

The Sulpher Paintbrush is still blooming -- funny that it's red paintbrush down from the Catherine's Pass and yellow above the Pass. (Checking the flower book, Sulpher Paintbrush likes exposed slopes which is definitely where I'm finding them.)

When I get to Sunset Pass, the view is snow-free.

I see a Variable Checkerspot which surprises me as I'm well over 10,000 ft.

I find a Blue in the meadow nectaring on an Aster.

Time to head back down. I decide to head down to Catherine's Lake. Curious if there's any butterflies flying.
Same flowers everywhere. I stop by the lake for a rest and I'm surrounded by flowers.

I find a Fireweed Plant, it has buds. That's be pretty when they start to bloom - all that pink.

I leave the lake and walk down the trail a little bit and finally see this little moth I've been tracking all morning long -- it flies like a bfly, it nectars like a bfly --- but it's this beautiful little moth!

Time to head back up to the Pass and then back down to my car -- and I can enjoy all the flowers in full sun (coming up, many were in the shade).

I get to the big meadow and see hummingbirds!! There are 2 nectaring on the Red Paintbrush. One quickly flies off but I got some good views of the other -- I think its a Female Broad-tailed Hummer. Pretty exciting!

I'm seeing a few Frits but they're flying. And as I get down further, lots of Parnassians. I counted twelve.

Super day -- can't beat it when there is a coyote and two moose and a marmot involved. Then add all the wonderful flowers.

July 16 - Lofty Lakes Loop - Back to the Uintas

Today I head back to the Uintas to do some hiking. Attempting Lofty Lake Loop. It approximately a 4mile loop. The trailhead is at 10,100 ft and to complete the loop (or at least get to Lofty Lake) its an 800 ft climb.

I intended to get an early start this morning. Was up, showered, walked into my kitchen and the power went out. Came back on in less than a minute but it went back off in less than a minute. This repeatedly several times before the power really went out. No big deal, I'm heading out anyway so I finish breakfast, pack and....then I realize without power, I'm not getting my car out of the garage. (boo!)

I went outside and found my neighbor to see if he had any brilliant ideas which he did. And we did manage to get the door opened (it's a secret).

So I can go (yea!) but I'm getting later start than I wanted to be.

Sunny day today. I drive directly to Pass Lake where the trail is supposed to start. I find one trail but according to my guide, its not the right trailhead - it should be across the street. I find a trail and follow it for a bit. There are trail signs but pointing to Cuberant Lake and not Lofty Lake. So I turned around and headed back. On the way back I saw a sign for Pass Lake Trailhead, walked it for a bit before going back the way I came in. When I exited, I saw people heading into a trail just a bit up the road - oops that's Pass Lake Trailhead; I was parked by Pass Lake.

I get to the trailhead. It had a nice map which showed Cuberant Lake; its a turn off on the Lofty Loop trail. I was heading in the right direction after all. So I followed the Cuberant Lake signs; finally heading in the right direction (and walking on trail I've already been on).

Anyway, the trail was beautiful as it heads through the pine forest. Its mostly shaded but the sun shines through in spots. There are lots of wet areas -- with damselflies and dragonflies about

and white bog orchid, elephanthead blooming; there are also purple asters, bistort, arnica, and small queen's anne lace in bloom (and many others of course).

One of the first butterflies I see is the Purplish Frit -- especially on the first part of this trail. I'm also seeing Milbert's Tortoiseshell and CA Tortoiseshell (finally see one -- dorsal view only).

In the muddy areas, I see deer tracks.

There are more streams now; some require a little rock hopping, others are just muddy and some have little footbridges. In the wetter areas, there is Hellebore (not blooming) and Marsh Marigold. I also find a few Shooting Stars at the end of their bloom.

Scattered in the drier areas were very dark purple penstemon - beautiful.

And I haven't even gotten to Reid's Meadow yet!!!

Most of the alpine meadows I've seen are rather small, but at 10,000ft Reid's Meadow is acres long and wide! It's still a wet meadow and its filled with Elephant's Head (lots of it), Bog Orchids, Marsh Marigold and Asters. It's amazing!! I can see Sulpher Bflies flitting throughout the meadow. And the backdrop, Bald Mountain and Reid's Peak. Pretty stunning.

I see a Painted Lady and Chryxus Arctic bfly as pass.

I finally get to a few lakes that mark the turn-off to Cuberant Lake. I follow the sign to Lofty Lakes. There are 3 small lakes but they each are unique with their reflections, branches, etc.

And the real climbing begins to Kamas Lake. It's only 0.4mile but its 520 ft in elevation to the lake at 10,520 ft. A lot of heavy breathing up that rock hill. But the reward was a big lake tucked against the mountains!

I continue along the shoreline to the dam on its NW corner.

There's still some water flowing over the dam to a tiny lake on the other side of the trail. Again, there's another meadow (same flowers).

Another steep climb leads me to a "bench" with an awesome view of the High Uintas. I can see Curberant and Cutthroat Lakes below.

I go downhill to an unoffical look-out point on a large rock to enjoy the views. Its after 12pm now so its a great spot for lunch. Spot some bflys flitting around: Grizzled Skipper, Arctic Blue, Mormon Frit.

There are clouds coming in now. Not sure whether to continue on, its one last steep climb. But its windy (the trail is exposed and steep now) and some of the clouds look like rain. I decide to backtrack -- I'll get to Lofty Lakes another day. (Sometimes I feel I'm too cautious especially on a new trail, but I'll get there.)

On the trip back downhill, I took more time to explore the meadows for butterflies -- and they were flying: Draco Skipper, Relict Frits, Mormon Frit, Arctic Blues, a Melissa Blue, Purplish Coppers,... a great look at a super fresh & bright Milbert's,

saw CA Tortioseshells flying -- could see their orange upper wings flashing with each flap of the wing.

On the bottom part of the trail, I finally get an awesome view of a CA Tortoiseshell!!! My first view of its upper wings.

The day started a bit rocky (power outage, can't find the trail) but it turned out great - even if I didn't quite make it to my destination.

July 15 - Butterflying the Uintas

This is my vacation week and day #1 I'm going on a field trip hosted by the Lepidopterist Society. It's a photographer trip to Murdock Mt and other parts of the Uintas.

There are many target species but today mine is the Grizzled Skipper.

I arrive at the hotel lobby in Park City (the meeting place) and the 1st people I meet are my butterfly friends from Louisiana (small world). Met them on my first NABA Meeting in 2008 and have hung out at the NABA meetings ever since -- nice people

We have 5 cars heading to Murdock Mt this morning -- and after a 102 degree yesterday in SLC, the high mountains will be quite a relief for me.

Sunny day. There are clouds but hoping they will burn off before we arrive.

And they do. Saw a deer along side the road just before our pull-off at Murdock Mt.

Murdock Mt is on the opposite side on the road of Bald Mt -- at Bald Pass (10,700+ ft). There's no trail so we're just slowly working our way up through the meadows and woods to the talus slopes which should hold the Magdalena Alpine and Rockslide Checkerspots (I've seen both on a CO trip several years back). Both of these are high mountain, talus slopes, rockslide type species (i.e., a prize to see).

The first meadow quickly yields a Mormon Frit and then my target species the Grizzled Skipper!

YEA! (yes, a lifer for me). The meadow is full of wonderful flowers which will be repeatedly seen over the course of this day - paintbrush, elephant's head, bistort,  ....

There are Arctic Blues, Purplish Frits, lots of Milbert's Tortoiseshells, ...  and a unknown Orange Skipper -- no one on the trip knew (confidently) what it is --- thought was maybe a Sonoran Skipper. There was also a few CA Tortoiseshell which I kept missing (I really need a pix of one :()

Kept heading up to the talus slopes. I did spot a Magdalena flying, we all chased it but up it went up the slopes and out of sight and reach -- you have to be a mountain goat to keep up.

I went up a little of the talus slopes to another meadow and peeked around, then went back down until the trip leader caught up. He found an easy way to get everyone to that 2nd meadow and increase everyone's chance at the Maggie and the Rockslide Checkerspot.

Seeing more Grizzled Skipper! I venture over to the edge of the meadow/talus slope and see an orange bfly land, it's a Rockslide Checkerspot!! Everyone came over and I think most people got a good look before it flew. But there were 3-4 of them flying in the same area. Unfortunately, alot of people went down to look so the area they were patrolling was now full of humans and off the bflies went. We saw some Maggies but they don't really stop.

Our leader had one that was caught yesterday and refrigerated to keep alive. So everyone did get a look. And then they took it from the bag and attempted to set it on a rock.

But the bfly was warm and ready to fly and that it did...up and out of sight.

There were some nice flowers blooming up by the slopes, CO Columbine, Perry's Primrose,

Bluebells (oh we saw lots of Policecar moths --- the caterpillars on the bluebells)

And the scenery was gorgeous!!

Then off we went 15 miles down the road in an attempt to see the Jutta Arctic (it would be a lifer for me if we find it). They are at the end of their flight but since one was found yesterday, everyone agreed it would be worth the drive. So off we went to Christmas Meadow.

I'm not sure why the name, it was really a sagebrush flat with some woods - but there were pine trees :) We were told to work the trees for the Jutta and off we went. The flats held some Blue Coppers and some northern Melissa Blues (which lack the orange marking on their outer upper wing). Leader said there has been much discussion among Leps whether this is really a Northern Blue but for now its a high elevation variation of the Melissa Blue.

We also see a "unsilvered" Mormon Frit -- still a Mormon Frit just a variation -- the usually silvered spots on the outer wings are not silver in this guy.

See more Arctic Blues, a Chryxus Arctic, a pretty sweet Thicket Hairstreak (this is the best look at one I've ever had),

and a very bright orange Purplish Copper. But no Jutta Arctic -- hey it was worth the shot at it. I now know where and when they fly... I'll find them next year.

Before we left, a fresh Field Crescent was found.

The next spot was back to Bald Mt (across from Murdock Mt) as there was a report yesterday of Relict Frits flying. We had time, we went.

Took the lower trail at Bald Mt -- no one was interested in climbing over 1000ft in a mile or s to the top of Bald Mt. The trail led past 3 lakes. At the 3rd lake was where the Relict Frits were supposed to be. Our leader felt that if they were at lake #3, they probably will be at lake #1 because they do move about. So after about 1/4 mile on the trail, we went off trail thru the flowers to lake #1. Of course, the clouds came over for a bit as we searched. But when the sun came back, we had ourself a Frit and after catching and studying it, we all agreed it was the Relict Frit!!! We caught #2 which our leader thought for sure was a Purplish Frit. But after much study and comparision, it was a Relict Frit. We saw several more and assumed they were all Relicts!!! (And we didn't have to go past 3 lakes to find them - yea). There were CA Tortoiseshells (which of course I didn't see landed),  Greenish Blues, Arctic Blues...and so many pretty flowers!

Off to the next stop - Yellow Pine Campground, with hopes for the CA Hairstreak and Great Basin Wood Nymph.

Its late in the afternoon, almost 4pm, when we arrive. And we have left the relative cool of the high elevation to mid 80 degree temps (oh if it mid 80s here, SLC must be HOT!) We start heading down a slight hill looking at the buckwheats for Hairstreaks and elsewhere for the Wood Nymphs. The 1st find was the CA Hairstreak! Actually 3 of them. Our leader caught a Wood Nymph -- it's a Small Wood Nymph. Keep looking. We saw a NW Frit and Ancilla Blue. The last find was a Behr's Hairstreak before calling it quits.

Wonderful day, great company, saw one "lifer" butterfly and I got to visit and explore new places. Can't beat that!!!