avalanche slides and sneezeweed. we smelled them, and didn't sneeze.
a deer's ear plant. these things get huge - over six feet sometimes! for some reason, not many blooming this year, maybe they go in cycles. saw allot of little ones.
monkeyflowers growing around bearpaw spring at 10,100ft.
humphrey's peak from lockett meadow, a little hazy from some local forest fires. it's the highest peak in arizona at 12,633ft.
much of the inner basin is a giant aspen grove.
the sweetest water in these parts!
a whipple's penstemon. high altitude only.
cody smelling the flowers.
enjoy!we finally got up into the inner basin - the caldera remaining from when the san francisco peaks blew their guts eastward in a mt. saint helen's - style explosion millons of years ago. i was really excited to get up there and see some of the high altitude plants left over from the ice age in a small, isolated sky island. we started out at lockett meadow at 8,600 feet and crawled up to bearpaw spring at 10,100 feet in a little over 2.25 miles. WHEW. man, that will make your arms hurt! it was allot cooler up there then here in flag, the low 70's. sweet. very few people were out, and we had a great day. last year we got up into the IB allot as it was so hot, but this year the snows lingered up there until early june and then it started rain and lightning season so this was our first opportunity to get up there. as usual, it was really spectacular! i ever got a few tiny alpine strawberries the critters somehow overlooked, and lots of ice cold tasty spring water. all in all, a tiring day for the body but a refreshing one for the head. gotta go, gonna braze george's bike before it gets too hot............. steve.
1 comment:
Gardu-
You're a world class framebuilder, mechanic, and rider, but more than anything else you are a Motivator.
Reading your blog always encourages me to get Out There, do it!
Thanks for all the good rides, breakfasts, and great memories over the years. I wish we spent more time together these days.
Oakridge is looking pretty dry compared to Flag at the moment. After living here for 3 years now I feel I can confidently say that the moisture patterns are almost always opposing between Oakridge and Flag. When it rains here it is dry there and vice versa.
Still need anyone to help out in the shop on a part time basis? I'm thinking of heading out of Oakridge for a while when things quiet down around here this fall. Just a thought.
Eug
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