Early July is a great time for wildflowers in the mountains. This year I headed to the Gunnison and Created Butte area where I spent 3 days among the wildflowers. There was quite a bit of of smoke in the air from all the wildflowers burning in the western states.The flowers at Crested Butte were really spectacular. I don’t remember see the Corn Lily landscapes like this year. Heading towards Gothic, I captured this image of the Corn Lilies. Early in the season, these lilies have bright green leaves. After flowering, the leaves turn brown before the plants die off. Some of the plants in the foreground have started showing brown leaves.
Cow Parsnip is another plant that was abundant.
The morning after arriving at the campsite in Gunnison, I headed out west along the Gunnison River. The sky was thick with orange smoke from the wildfires. I headed down to the rocks along the shoreline, where I included a reflection of the sun in the water.
Returning back to Gunnison, I headed to an area that I had not visited for a few years. At certain locations around Gunnison, there are outcrops of breccia towering above the sage brush.
One of my favorite roads to Crested Butte is the road through Ohio Pass. I made several images of the wildflowers at the base of the pass. Here I found a clump of White Geraniums. I believe that these are Richardson Geraniums.
While spending lunch time under the aspen trees below Kebler Pass, I was surrounded by corn lilies. I made a macro soft focus image of the corn lily flowers; this image was made with a Lensbaby Velvet. At wide apertures, this gives a very soft focus, ideal for flowers!
Later in the afternoon, I was back on the road from Crested Butte to Gothic. I walked up a hillside covered with corn lilies. I like this backlit image of the corn lilies against a dark background of a pine forest. Among the lilies were occasional fireweeds; those are the pink/purple flowers at the bottom left.
Here is another image of the corn lilies on the hillside, bounded by forest of aspen and pine trees.
One of my favorite plants is the Green Gentian. They are not as prolific as some of the other plants, so I don’t always get to see them. These plants typically grow to 6 feet in height. I did find a few dozen plants along the roadside.
In this image, I found one plant with yellow daisies stretching out into the distance.
After arriving back at Mount Crested Butte, I was waiting for the sun to drop below the clouds. Looking up, I found blue sky with sunbeams shining through — the smoky air probably contributed to the spectacular sunbeams on that afternoon.
At Mount Crested Butte, there is one location where the hillside was covered with yellow daisies. In the distance the sun lit up the mountains among the smoke-filled air. However, I had to wait until the sun dropped below the clouds so that it would light up the valley below and the flowers in the foreground.
The following morning, I made my way along the north canyon drive from Gunnison to Crawford. Along the way, I found several locations where fireweed were growing along the roadside.
I made my way to the town of Paonia before heading back through Crested Butte and returning home that evening.