Serviceberry Trail Jaunt

Desert Boy is keeping track of the trails he's doing this year, and still needed Serviceberry Trail. I needed some exercise, so we went out for a jaunt.

The serviceberries are edible right now, although they aren't the tastiest. I showed Desert Boy what they were and he wasn't too impressed. In the background is the beautiful limestone cliff next to Granite Basin.

The buckwheats were popping, and I really liked this redstem buckwheat, Eriogonum racemosum.

Desert Boy hikes much faster than me, so I asked him to wait periodically. I had to laugh when I found him chugging a Coke on the trail. 

We had the whole trail to ourselves. It was in pretty good shape, with just a couple trees down.

We kept powering up, although when the flowers got especially pretty, I had to stop for a photo. Here's Eriogonum microthecum (the white one on the left), Eriogonum umbellatum (the brown one in the back), and green rabbitbrush (the yellow one).

The backside is so pretty. We went up through the aspen grove. Most of the leaves aren't changing yet, but a few have started.

Then it was down into the mountain mahogany. The seeds cover the forest floor.

The backlit seeds were gorgeous.

I showed Desert Boy where the Johnson Lake trail goes. The big aspen grove further uphill has barely started changing.

I love the balanced rock!

Down lower, you can see the north fork of Snake Creek.

The snowberries were white, leaving no doubt to their name.

A colorful aspen leaf.

And another.

The trail here is beautiful, the trail crew did nice work on it.

A baby lizard in the shade.

The Oregon grape/creeping mahonia is especially beautiful now.

A closeup of serviceberries.

And then we were done, in an hour and 20 minutes. That got us home just in time for dinner! 

 Have you done any fun hikes lately?