Eagle Mountain Lake

The weather forecast and my schedule both called for a hike on Saturday morning.  The internet pointed me to Eagle Mountain Lake, which had the added bonus of being someplace I'd never visited.  So off I went!

This Question Mark was well camouflaged in some leaf litter along the loop trail.

There were plenty of wildflowers, but only one (Arkansas) Yucca in bloom that I noticed.

Some Cobaea Beardtongue was nicely lit against a shady background.

I appreciated seeing new leaves budding on this cactus.

I was too lazy to switch the lenses on my camera, so I shot this landscape shot of the wildflowers blooming along the trail with my zoom lens rather than my wide-angle lens with its wonderful circular polarizer.  So this shot isn't as saturated as I'd like as a result, especially the sky.

When I hit the South Overlook Trail, it became apparent that the stars of the day were going to be the butterflies.  There were a ton of them in a wide variety of species, including...

(deep breath)

... Black Swallowtail ...

... Common Buckeye ...

... did I mention Black Swallowtail?

Back to the unique sightings!  Sleepy Orange ...

... Dainty Sulphur ...

... Short-Tailed Swallowtail ...

EDIT: The iNaturalist community disagrees, and says this is another Black Swallowtail.

... Variegated Fritillary ...

... and Funereal Duskywing.  Eight different species!

EDIT: Seven, since I did not actually see a Short-Tailed Swallowtail.

A blooming Western Prickly Pear briefly interrupted the butterfly parade!

The parade resumed along the more wooded Shoreline Trail with this Red Admiral.

A hiker carrying his infant daughter spotted this Common Spotted Whiptail soaking up some sun along the trail.  Good thing, because I would have missed him.

Butterfly species #10 -- an Orange Sulphur!  I don't think I've ever seen that many on one outing, which helped make this a most memorable hike!

EDIT: Nine species.  See earlier references to the elusive Short-Tailed Swallowtail.