Wildflowers III

We continue to see many wildflowers on our hikes in northern Arizona. This week we hiked the Kachina Trail on the San Francisco Peaks and the Kelly Canyon Trail south of Flagstaff.

Wildflowers seen along the Kachina Trail on the San Francisco Peaks.
Wildflowers seen along the Kachina Trail on the San Francisco Peaks.
Wildflowers along the Kelly Canyon Trail south of Flagstaff.
Wildflowers along the Kelly Canyon Trail south of Flagstaff.

Identification of the flowers was done via an iPhone app and reverse image lookup. There may be errors.

More Wildflowers

We were interested in seeing more wildflowers yesterday so we took a short hike on the Arizona Trail starting at Aspen Corner on Snowbowl Road. We didn’t have to go very far to see a large variety of flowers.

A variety of wildflowers seen on a short hike along the Arizona Trail.
A variety of wildflowers seen on a short hike along the Arizona Trail.

With the help of a phone app and some wildflower books I think we have identified all of these.

Dandelion Bear Grass Rocky Mountain Iris
Pussy Toes Clover Mountain Bluebell
Plaintain Prairie Smoke White Violet

And the season is still young.

Spring Wildflowers in Northern Arizona

We had a very wet winter and the months of May and June have had above average rainfall. This has probably helped to bring about early and plentiful blooms of wildflowers across the area.

Here are some photos of just some of the many wildflowers we have seen so far this.

Rocky Mountain Iris with a sphinx moth.
Rocky Mountain Iris with a sphinx moth.
Rocky Mountain Iris.
Rocky Mountain Iris.

In early June we were hiking along the Arizona Trail south of Lake Mary and encountered numerous clusters of Rocky Mountain Iris. While trying to get a photo of one flower a sphinx moth jumped into the frame. What great luck! Iris season has peaked at these elevations but is probably still going strong in the higher elevations.

White Lupine.
White Lupine.
Lupine.
Lupine.

In mid June we hiked along the Highland Trail south of Fort Tuthill near Flagstaff. There were a large variety of flowers but I was most impressed with the large clusters of Lupine. Most interesting was this White Lupine. I don’t recall every seeing this variety before and we saw only a few.

Groundsel.
Groundsel.
Manyflowered Stoneseed.
Manyflowered Stoneseed.

Other flowers included Groundsel and Manyflowered Stoneseed.

Wildflower identification was done with the built-in app on an iPhone.

Clouds at Sunset at Rogers Lake

The past week has featured dry conditions with mostly cloudless skies. That changed on Wednesday as a weak disturbance moved across the Southwest and brought a bit of moisture to the area. By afternoon it was evident that there would be some interesting clouds at sunset so we headed to Rogers Lake County Natural Area, located a few miles southwest of Flagstaff.

A view of the San Francisco Peaks reflected in the shallow waters of Rogers Lake.
A view of the San Francisco Peaks reflected in the shallow waters of Rogers Lake.

Our first stop was at the southern end of the lake which allowed us to take photographs over the water looking towards the San Francisco Peaks. The winds began to calm as the sun lowered in the west providing interesting reflections of the peaks in the smooth water. Note: lots of bugs but they weren’t annoying.

Sunset over Rogers lake from the northern viewing area. Wetland grasses are already growing tall in the shallow waters of the lake.
Sunset over Rogers lake from the northern viewing area. Wetland grasses are already growing tall in the shallow waters of the lake.
A zoomed-in view of the wetland grasses and sunset reflections on the waters of Rogers Lake.
A zoomed-in view of the wetland grasses and sunset reflections on the waters of Rogers Lake.

We then moved to the northern viewing area to shoot photos across the lake and towards a band of shallow convective clouds and the sun. There was a period of a few minutes in which the colors were greatly enhanced. I was using a 24–120mm lens for most of the early photographs but switched to a 200–500mm lens for some closeup photographs of the water. The wetland grasses were growing out of the shallow water and created an interesting abstract photo, especially with the sunset colors reflected on the water.

Panoramic view of Rogers Lake at sunset.
Panoramic view of Rogers Lake at sunset.

The panoramic image was shot using an iPhone.

The forecast calls for several more days with clouds and showers so there may be additional opportunities.

Two Views of the Sun

Here are two different views of the Sun. The first was taken with a 500mm telephoto lens and solar filter; numerous sunspots are visible.

Solar image with sunspots.
Solar image with sunspots.
Oval Circumscribed Halo and 22° Halo.
Oval Circumscribed Halo and 22° Halo.

The second image was taken with a 17mm wide-angle lens. Both an Oval Circumscribed Halo (visible as the thickened midsection) and 22° Halo are visible in this image.