We spent a few days and nights camping on the shores of the reservoir. It is a pretty and peaceful place managed by the Bureau of Reclamation.
The change back to a mixed desert / prairie environment has meant some different photographic challenges. Given that we are heading into the fall season the floral department now hosts only the tiniest of already tiny flowers.
Forget reading glasses, you should really have a magnifying glass for most of them.
Those little white and pink clusters don’t look that small, do they?
Well, those ‘clusters’ are actually six or so flowers that are just a little bit
wider than the crease in your finger.
Despite the miniscule challenge before here, Nicole set out to try to capture what she could. It was no easy task in that unlike the forest floor the desert does not easily permit laying or kneel down on a whim. OUCH!
None the less... here are a few shots.
This pretty succulent type plant didn’t exactly have flowers.
But it did form a flower-like arrangement at each segment.
Most of what we saw were so small that identification is a near impossibility.
Perhaps if we get close enough...
We’re pretty sure though that these thorny treasures
are in the Russian Thistle family.
(Perspective note: the thorns you are seeing were 1/4 to 1/2 in long)
A select few more familiar flowers were closer to the size of a dime.
Others would appear larger at a distance by clustering together.
Point of perspective for this (we think) Rabbitbrush: do you see the bee’s ‘toe’
wrapped around the left most of the tallest flowers?
How about now?
Many of the plants we saw were past blooming.
With the winds the way that they were however that provided
a unique opportunity to watch the re-seeding process begin.
Such is the case with this Swamp Milkweed
and this Common Milkweed.
Others took on their own fuzzy decorations in an attempt to fit in.
In a desert type environment even dead can bite
and ‘past due’ is still pretty.
Really, this rock is millions of years old and it’s still pretty!
Time to let the sun set on this post and get it to the internet.
Until next time...
