Skywatch Friday: Elk Racks & Bitterroot Flowers

Summer came to Butte, Montana, exactly with the calendar this year. Before the summer solstice, nights were frosty, many mornings we woke to snow, and most days temperatures hovered in the 50s (deg F). After the solstice, it's been 70+ with plenty of bright, blue skies. On a recent hike through the Boulder Batholith near town, Dave Carter & I were greeted by the familiar spires of the rock formation that marks this area:

Just over the Continental Divide south of town, we navigate by our view of the Highland Mountains:

Molly & Jack TheDogs stayed peculiarly close to us, perhaps it had something to do with the fresh bear sign:

I'm scouting a place to bowhunt come September. We did not see any elk, but as usual saw a few dependable mule deer, including this young doe:

Now, if you find a rabbit's foot from a coyote kill, can the rabbit's foot possibly be lucky? Certainly wasn't for the rabbit:

There was plenty of elk sign, and hiking back to the truck we cut across a large, open park, only to come upon this very symmetrical 5-point elk rack with skull (possibly winter or wolf kill):

In the woods, the Kinnikinnick (Arcostaphylos uva-ursi) is blooming. Indians used the leaves medicinally (they have antibiotic properties) and smoked it. Not sure why they smoked it--I've tried it and it seems to have no narcotic effect:

At a small old mining site up on the ridge, Dense-leaf Draba (Draba densifolia) had colonized all the tailings piles:

Down low, the wet meadows are lit up with Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum; aka "Purple Avens"). The flowers are pretty but not all that showy--that has to wait for pollination and seed development, when the seed heads burst open with long, smoke-like tendrils to carry off the wind-born seeds:

After a long morning hike, what's better than stopping at Dairy Queen for ice cream? Including, of course, a couple of cones for Molly and Jack: 

Back home in Walkerville, on the west slope of the Divide, the wet spring has made for  lush blooms on the wild apple trees in the horse pasture behind the house:

The humblebees must be very grateful for the rich nectar:

I am grateful for the butterflies that are beginning to show up:

For the Field Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta) that dot the sagebrush:

And, most especially, for the Rock Roses (Bitterroot; Lewisia rediviva). Aptly chosen as Montana's state flower, Bitterroots and other native flora have been colonizing the Butte Hill. Rare when I moved here 20+ years ago, they now carpet many of the most barren, rocky areas:

There are just a few blooms now, but it looks as though there are plenty of buds yet to open:

Happy 4th of July to American readers, and happy summer to all.