Happy Solstice

Happy Summer Solstice! As we transition to summer, it's sunnier & warmer day-by-day. Some years, after a June when it might rain every day, we can go July-August-September with nary a cloud in the sky. Friend Dave Carter & I took the dogs for a hike, intending to go fairly high in the East Pioneer Mtn Range south of Butte, Montana. Above the Hecla Mine, however, the snow was just melting off and the ground was soggy. We took a look at Granite Peak, turned around at the road's end, and headed back down the valley a few miles to hike a sagebrush park:

The mule deer, like these two yearlings (born last spring), are shedding their winter coats. Given the disproportionally large head and short nose that marks a yearling, I can never understand how hunters mistake them for adult deer:

There were a lot of wildflowers blooming, so I'll skip the narrative and get right to the pics, including Desert Evening Primrose (Oenothera caespitosa; sorry it was splashed by dirt from the recent rains):

Lanceleaf Stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum):

Mountain Death Camas (Zigadenus elegans; I wonder what eats the leaves?):

Field Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta):

Vetch (Hedysarum spp):

Prairie Rocket (Erysimum asperum):

Textile Onion (Allium textile):

A Mule-Ear species, I think (Wyethia spp):

Oregon Grape (Berberis repens):

And Bristly Cryptantha (Cryptantha interrupta):

The wet spring weather also has the mushrooms fruiting. All lovely and tasty looking, but I don't want to be part of a Darwinian natural selection project. The last one is probably an edible and very tasty Bolete (note it's been munched). The first one is like many of us in the workplace--fed a lot of crap and kept in the dark:

Toward hike's end, we cut through an aspen stand on our way down to the truck. Nice claw marks from where a bear climbed one:

JackTheDog was happy to find a spring for a cool soak:

While MollyTheDog could enjoy a minute with an elk bone:

Still waiting for the rivers to drop a bit for trout fishing, but in the meantime life is good.