May 29 - Lamb's Canyon

Finally a sunny day with absolutely no rain in the forecast!! And it's time to visit an old friend - Lamb's Canyon. Haven't been there since the Fall. Definitely time for a visit.

I'm a little concerned for the bflies, it was so warm earlier, many got a head start. And then the weather turned and we've set a record for number of days with rain in May and had 3x - 4x our normal May rainfall, what's a bfly to do?

As I make my way up the canyon, my fears are eased a bit when I see Cloudywings and Tiger or Two-Tailed Swallowtails flying.

I park and check the usual puddles near the parking. I see Spring Azures, Northern Cloudywings, Rocky Mt Duskwing and a Sleepy Duskwing. I look around and see a Sara Orangetip flying with some of the just mentioned bflies.

Time for the hike. I cross the bridge and find a Mourning Cloak basking on a branch. A yellow swallowtail flies by and the Mourning Cloak takes off chasing the Swallowtail for a bit before returning to his basking branch.

Very green -- but that's pretty normal on this trail. Lot's of tiny white fringed flowers from the Mitrewort. Also, lots of purple flowers on the vines of Virgin's Bower's (these are found from the bottom to top of the trail).

I find a few Heartleaf Arnica, many purple violets (Fritillary host plants - I should have checked for caterpillars), lots of Strawberry blossoms, and many Bluebells (most not blooming).

The creek is flowing nicely and despite all the rain, the trail does not have a lot of it's normal muddy spots along the creek.

Up, up I go!

Took awhile to see bflies on the trail but I'm finding them now. Mostly Azures.

And a few Duskywings and Cloudywings.

I also see a Hoary Comma fly by.

My nice stroll along the creek gets interrupted when the original trail is blocked and I get to the re-routed to the "new" trail. I forgot about this - grrrr! I can say that the new trail wider and more level as positives but, in my opinion, the old trail has more character - streamside, more flowers and more bflies -- so I'm still a bit unhappy about it. (And I don't think that will go away.)

The re-routed trail has be to longer than the original 1.75 miles. It has several switchbacks, backtracks a bit -- the original just basically went up. I'm have to measure next time.

The moose like the new trail. I'm seeing many moose tracks along the way.

Near the top, the Spring Beauties are in bloom -- they bloomed weeks ago below.

I get to the top and am greeted by wonderful views of SLC and snowy mountains. I continue up an animal trail to an aspen covered "peak". Wonderful views to the east!!

And those snowy peaks!

Several Painted Ladies flying up here! And Glacier Lilies are still blooming.

Time to head back down.

I see some Margined Whites flying.

At one point in the trail, I hear something rustling above me in the shrubs. I stop to see what it is -- hoping it's a moose. I  finally see some ears .... and then a face. It's a deer!

Actually, as many times as I've been on this trail, this is the first deer I've seen! I move a little further down the trail and then look back, there's actually a second deer!! Pretty cool!

Great day visiting my old friend!!