Monday, July 4, 2016

Spring Wildflowers up Hendry's Creek

Back in late spring (mid-May, I think), we took a Sunday drive up Hendry's Creek (en route to doing some ranch work for my husband). I was amazed by the orange desert floor, lit up by globemallow.

We continued driving up the road until we got to the Hendry's Creek trailhead. Hendry's Creek is the main trail on the east side of the North Snake Range, especially now that the Hampton Creek road has been obliterated by the flooding following the wildfire.

It must have been a chilly morning if Desert Boy had to wear his winter coat!

It was warm enough that flowers were blooming and insects were pollinating them.

We didn't get far when we reached the obstacle. The trail crossed the creek bed. While it is sometimes dry here (like last fall), on this spring day it was roaring, and we didn't feel like getting our shoes wet.

So we hiked towards the cliffs and found a beautiful patch of Solomon's seal, a wetland-loving plant.

As we climbed higher, we got a nice view of the cottonwood-lined creek from the lichen-covered cliffs.

We could have gone farther, but we decided that was enough hiking, so we headed back down.

On the way we saw a gopher snake on the trail. These are awesome snakes, they eat a lot of rodents. I wouldn't mind a few more near our house!

I wanted to spend some more time with the flowers and I had my bike, so my husband and the kids went on in the truck, and I took a leisurely bike ride back down, stopping for photos.

When I came down the bench further and saw the majestic snow-covered Jeff Davis and Wheeler Peaks, I took a ton of photos. What a beautiful sight!

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