Fairies in the Forest!

What a gorgeous day we had today!!  Bright sun, no clouds, temps into the 70's; it was wonderful!  A trip to Lone Pine after school was a definite must, and I wasn't disappointed!

The flowers of the day were Fairyslippers and Fairybells!  Several clumps of Fairyslipper orchids were open.  Only one spot isn't open yet (the one I checked on my birthday!); it is in a little sheltered hollow and shaded; the others have more access to sunshine.  I counted at least 35 orchids, not counting all the unopened buds.

There were 12 in this nest alone!

Brand newbies!

The color in this bunch was amazing!

These may have been opened longer to get all the spots.

There were other fairies in the forest as well; these little white charmers are called Fairybell.  It will form a berry later this summer.

The shooting stars and yellowbells still dominate the top area of Lone Pine, but other lovelies are emerging as well. 

This brave little yellowbell is coming up through a big mess of forest litter!

There is a flowering tree (I'll have to find out what).

I could only find one or two prairiesmoke blooms, but many more are on the way.

 This is start of Arrow-leaf Balsamroot; the leaves really do come up like arrows!

I saw LOTS of Larkspur leaves and a few buds starting up.  This will be a small blue flower in the delphinium family.

 Blue sky above the ski area!

There were a few more surprises in the woods as well.  Low Oregon Grape is all over and mainly in bud stage, but a few were opening in the sunshine.

This is a variety of saxifrage; basal leaves, 5-6 inch stem with little flower buds--I'll have to come back and revisit this one.

This gooseberry blossom had such a lovely shape.

Rocky Mountain Maple:

Sleepy little Clematis getting ready to vine through the woods.

This little teen-tiny is called Blue-Eyed Mary; I included the dandelion for scale!