Eccles Pass, Part II

Click here for Part I.

Talk about an embarrassment of riches.  Any concerns I had about the wildflowers being past peak were clearly misplaced.

I have no idea what lens or what angle could possibly capture some sense of just how completely covered the meadows were.  But I tried anyway.

Another unusual side effect of the recent weather -- some massive mushrooms dotted the trail.

I'd read that this was considered a "century hike," meaning that it had more than 100 species of wildflowers.  Unfortunately I could only identify about 20, like this fringed gentian.

Blooming wildflowers usually mean butterflies, and this day was no exception.

Not sure what stimulated this little fritillary conference.  They didn't even want to move once we were practically right on top of them, but did finally all fly off.

Reptile?  Alien?  Nope -- just a close-up of yet another ginormous fungus.

No megafauna to speak of.  But we stopped after hearing a rustling in a tree, and were rewarded with a white-crowned sparrow hopping out brandishing a pair of berries.  Serendipity strikes again. :)

Not sure what it is about backbones that cause predators and scavengers to leave them along trails.  But these were the third set I've come across on my hikes.  Skulls would be cooler, but no such luck yet.

I had an extended shoot with this fellow, who I'm pretty sure is a Variable Checkerspot.  But I'll be checking with my old friends at BAMONA to be sure.

Zak was more patient than Ginny would have been.  He just sat by the trail.  She would have ambled through the shot and scared it off long before I was done.

A final patch of tansy aster, and we were done.  A little more than 10 miles, about 2,800 feet of elevation gain and 7 1/2 glorious hours with my son.  We talked about video games, movies, school and a bunch of other stuff that we never would have taken the time to discuss otherwise.  All told, easily one of the best hikes ever. :)