PHELPS LAKE HIKE

One of our favorite hikes is at the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve.  Earlier in the year, when we were building up or hiking stamina, we hiked to Phelps Lake and back to the visitors' center.  This time, we hiked all-the-way around the lake for a total of 7.4 miles.  The trail follows sagebrush meadows, wetlands, forest, and lake environments.  Several times we were in a thick forest of Douglas fir with the aroma of a Christmas tree lot found in December.

This is the view when we first reached the shore of Phelps Lake.  The reflections of the mountains in the lake provided opportunities for stunning photographs.

 While hiking around Phelps Lake, you get many vistas where you can view Death Canyon. 

The only wildlife we saw were a squirrel, chipmunk, grouse, and a bald eagle. The bald eagle was flying majestically over the lake trying to spear a fish with its talons.  Unfortunately, we were too far away to get a decent photo.

We went out to Huckleberry Point to view the many huckleberry bushes nearly fully in bloom.  When ripe, the huckleberries will look very similar to blueberries. 

Because most of the trail is shady, the spring wild flowers were still in bloom.  Flowers we saw for the first time this summer include:

Blue penstemon:

Wyoming or Indian Paint Brush--the official Wyoming state flower:

and Columbine--the official Colorado state flower:

There were several varieties of Columbine

 and finally, an all white Columbine.

We talked to a Park Ranger at the Visitors' Center after completing our hike.  According to him, the Columbine are not native to the area but are left over from the garden the Rockefeller family planted when they had a private residence on this beautiful land.  This would explain why we haven't seen these flowers on any of our other hikes this summer.