Monday, July 20, 2009

a ride to the beautiful Inner Basin.

i got out on a ride to the San Francisco Peaks' inner basin the other day to try and ride to the highest altitude i could but got turned around at the final turn to Flagstaff springs due to lightning danger. coming down out of the IB is as fast as i've ever gotten the one-off, one crazy sled ride on any kind of wheeled vehicle!
Richardson's geranium & Lupines.

a close-up of a really cool species confined to the higher altitudes around here, Whipple's Penstemmon. i really dig the color on these babies.

a full - plant shot. i only see these guys at around 9,500+ feet elevation.

a view of a huge avalanche chute on Fremont Peak with the weather getting iffy......

Golden Columbines were going off. such a cool flower - the nectar is at the ends of the rearward facing tubes so that the pollinator like a hummingbird or moth has to reach deep into the flower for a treat, pollinating it.

Penstemmon Barbatus.

Mountain Sneezeweed. those big fat flies are the pollinators for these guys.

a nice deer's ears in the inner basin meadow.

grinding it out! conditions were really loose & rocky and i was quite blown out afterwards, but it sure is pretty up there. all the roads are maintained to service the wells Flagstaff gets much of it's water from but closed to motorised vehicles. that's pretty damn nice...........thanks for reading! Steve.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Steve, your rides are inspiring!

Cyclebound said...

Coming down from the I.B. on the One Off looks like a hoot. A serious chore to get up there but a hoot to come down. Hope you and Denise are well.