Brighton Lakes

Miles, Ian and I hiked the Brighton lakes for Pioneer day.  There were quite a few people hiking, but most of them only went as far as Lake Mary, so we were still able to hike in solitude. 

We saw fat ground squirrels, but the chipmunks seemed to be fitter this year. We saw a moose family by Lake Martha, and a some kind of flightless foul.

The wildflowers were gorgeous and we were especially excited to find a patch of snow saved by the entrance of a shallow cave. It's pretty awesome to make snowballs in July.

Fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium

Monkshood or wolf bane, Aconitum columbianum

A meadow of little sunflowers, Helianthella uniflora

Mountain bluebells, Mertensia arizonica

View of the mountains north of the trail

Us

Butterfly on an Engelmann aster, Aster engelmannii

Lake Mary

Coyote min, Monardella odoratissima; Wyeth's buckwheat, Eriogonum heracleoides; little sunflower, Helianthella uniflora

Lake Catherine

What kind of bird is this?  Maybe a snape?

Snow in July.

Showy fleabane, Erigeron speciosus

Lake Mary on the way back.

Lewis' monkeyflower, Mimulus lewisii

Elephant heads, Pedicularis groenlandica

Ski lifts at dusk

Wasatch penstemon, Penstemon cyananthus