We continued making our way down the mountain.
A glimpse back
A delicately colored Paintbrush
Star Gentian (or sometimes Felwort) is very sensitive to habitat destruction, and human activity has wiped it out in areas where it was once common.
Alpine or Swamp Laurel is an evergreen shrub in the Heather family. It is covered with beautiful cascades of pink flowers.
Another small alpine pond...
... which was filled with Fairy Shrimp. These super tiny crustaceans can be found from salty desert pools to ice-covered mountain lakes (even in Antarctica).
Crossing some last patches of snow
Incredible views!
The hairy details of some Paintbrush
Globeflower is also in the Buttercup family.
Their little trunks have fallen off and their flowers are turning to seed pods... so this must be the Little Pink Elephant graveyard.
Parry Clover is identified by its lavender color. As with the primrose we saw earlier, this plant is also named after Charles Parry.
This is possibly a Blackheaded Daisy (or Blackhead Fleabane), so named for its thick black hairs just under the white ray flowers. If you look closely, you can barely see them poking out.
We heard this little pika long before we spotted it! Nicknamed Rock Rabbits, their coats offer them excellent camouflage.
Off in the distance, we saw another lake...
After a short stop, we continued our journey. We weren't too far from the established trails now.
Crossing a 'bridge'
Back on the established trail... although their bridge doesn't look too much different than our other one!
Logs were used in many spots that were frequently quite wet and marshy.
Back at our North Fork of Middle Boulder Creek waterfall
According to Dave, it is at least three times bigger during the spring, when all the snow is melting.
Shooting Stars look like flowers that have been turned inside-out!
Asters, daisies and sunflowers are all composite flowers. This means that hundreds (or even thousands) of flowers are grouped together to form a single flower-like structure. The real flowers (florets) are generally small, but the pseudanthium (false flower) can be quite large.
Before it flowers, the poisonous Mountain Death Camas unfortunately looks a lot like various edible onions. Yeah, I think you get the point.
Cow Parsnip can get up to 15 feet tall. But if you look closely at the tiny individual flowers, they are not unlike little angels!
I can't tell you what type of insect this is, but whatever it is, it does waaaaay too much Botox!
A mystery shrub... with juniper-like berries but the white-lined needles of a spruce
Red, white and blu(ish-purple)... appropriate colors for the Fourth of July Trail
The final waterfall again
A glimpse back at the snowfields we had just visited
