The Magical Osha Trail

Dandelion ball

Our hike on the Osha Trail this morning was magical.  Because of an abundance of rain recently flowers were in bloom all over the place.  Amazingly, we saw more Mountain Roses than we've ever seen before; they were literally blossoming all along the trail.  There were thousands of them.  For the first time ever we saw signs warning of logging operations along the Osha Trail; the forest service is probably thinning the forest near the village of Cloudcroft.  On the last leg of our lengthy trek this morning we ran into a large group of very young kids (5-7 years old) who were being chaperoned by three adults.  Becca had never before seen such a large herd of tiny humans, but she was very well behaved.

Bearcorn

Foxtails

Mexican Canyon trestle

Not a jet, but a hummingbird jetting away

Becca enjoying the Osha Trail

Mountain Rose

Rose and friend

Wild Roses were blooming profusely

Becca waiting patiently while Dr. K photographs a flower

Wild Onion

Dr. K and a disinterested Becca

Dr. K and a curious Becca

This and the next two images:  more wild roses

This has the same morphology as Wild Onion, but it's not

Bearcorn, a plant loved by bears

The Osha Trail

Aspens along the trail

Yellow Salsify

Butterfly love

Tall grass alongside the trail

High mountain meadow

First time we've ever seen logging on the Osha Trail

Purple Salisfy