June 30, 2016 - Down into Wolf Creek Valley; the road home from town the other evening.

June 29, 2016 - Canada goose and nearly grown goslings near Little Goose Creek.

June 28, 2016 - I like to imagine that 170 years ago the Oregon Trail looked something like this in the early summer.  The prairie grasses were taller and sage grouse were common over the sage plains then.  Still, it was the same endless, rolling, green landscape, bright blue western sky and free ranging clouds.  That's the way I envision it on a sunny morning.

June 27, 2016 - The Blue Herons are busy at their Teal Pond heronry this month.  There are four in the nest in the photo at the bottom of the page.

June 26, 2016 - More photos from Hunt Mountain last week.

This is one of the limestone "castles" up top set back from the face of Hunt Mountain.  Snow drifts can be twenty to thirty feet deep in these outcroppings in late spring.  The road is usually snowed in until late June or July.  This year it was accessible a bit earlier.  You can see by the color it has been dry.  Usually the alpine meadow would be lush green this time of year.

Moss Pink and Alpine Forget-me-nots.

Alpine Forget-me-nots in the fractured limestone slabs on top of the mountain.

This little sunflower grows at the very top of the mountain.  They are perhaps 6" tall and the biggest flowers are about 3" in diameter.  I love its name - "Old Man of the Mountains".  The three summits on the distant horizon starting from the left (in the middle of the photo) are Medicine Mountain, Bald Mountain, and Duncum Mountain.  The cliff face on the very right is part of Hunt Mountain.

June 25, 2016 - A trip up Hunt Mountain to 10,000 feet and near the top of the Bighorns.

This 180 degree panorama was taken from the saddle between the two rock escarpments of Hunt Mountain.  Left to right is roughly south to north looking out over the Basin to the Rockies.

Alpine flora here includes these Mountain Avens,

This Limestone Columbine which requires a very specialized environment and soil,

And these mixed Sulphur Paintbrush and Forget-me-nots.

More from Hunt Mountain tomorrow.  Today was my 300th post.

June 24, 2016 - A male Calliopy Hummingbird atop the Buffaloberry bush outside the front gate.

June 23, 2016 - Sego Lily on the prairie nearby.

June 22, 2016 - Last pictures of the bulls on the mountain a few days ago; I never tire of seeing the moose.

June 21, 2016 - A few pictures of a Water Ouzel and it's nest on a rock in the middle of the rushing river.

June 20, 2016 - The roiling North Fork as it heads into the canyon.  See tomorrow's blog for a bit of life on the waterway here.

June 19, 2016 - Father's Day.  Twenty-one years ago this month.

June 18, 2016 - I really enjoyed finding these moose in the sagebrush and aspen up on the mountain last Wednesday.  They stand over six feet tall at the shoulder.  With luck, I hope to see the big bulls again in two months when their antlers are fully grown. 

June 17, 2016 - Sunset over "The Grandfathers" out back along Wolf Creek two nights ago.

June 16, 2016 - Bighorn Canyon, post 3, last post.  These are my favorite pictures from the trip; teepee rings on a rocky bench above the canyon.  The circles of rocks were used to hold down the edges of the Indian teepees.

June 15, 2016 - Bighorn Canyon, post 2 of 3.  A panoramic of the canyon, and a close-up of a Prickly Pear Cactus blossom.

June 14, 2016 - We took another trip over the mountain to visit Bighorn Canyon with a friend.  This will be Post #1 of 3 from that day.  The colors there are spectacular, as is the country.  I am partial to the red, white and blue.

June 13, 2016 - I put out the trailcam last week and this young whitetail buck volunteered for one of the first nice photos.  I enjoy the slow, relaxed nature of the trailcam pictures.

June 12, 2016 - A herd of elk on the slopes of the sage dotted calving grounds below Castle Gardens.  Only a few of the cows have calved. 

 

And a pregnant cow moose at the head of Dry Fork Creek.

June 11, 2016 - Pasqueflower and Globeflower are two of the first wildflowers to bloom in the northern Wyoming mountain spring.  Pasqueflower is one of my favorites.  These were near the Dry Fork road.

 

June 10, 2016 - The view from the head of the wide upper valley of the Dry Fork of the Little Bighorn River in the Bighorn Mountains.  The valley flows north into Little Horn Canyon.  Three bull moose were feeding there, in the aspens below.  These photos were taken last Monday, the aspens are just leafing out in the valley.

June 9, 2016 - A young badger.

June 8, 2016 - A Snipe at first light in the marshy draw below Hunky Hill.

June 7, 2016 - I like the dawn light colors on this antelope buck near PK Lane.

June 6, 2016 - Purple vetch and Big Goose Canyon from near the top of Beckton Hill early this morning.

June 5, 2016 - Fox kits up Pass Creek.