Washington Gulch

Glacier Lily

Our picnic lunch spot view. Crested Butte is to the left with Round Mountain behind it.

Geranium

Bluebells

A friend of mine had been to Crested Butte the week before and had seen Glacier Lilies. These tiny little flowers are usually gone by July as they are the first wildflowers to appear when the snow recedes. Since there was still snow in the upper elevations, we packed a picnic lunch and set out for Washington Gulch, about a 20 minute drive from our house. I had never seen a Glacier Lily and thought it would be much bigger. I was surprised to find they are only about 5-6 inches tall and I had to lay down on my side just to photograph them which Danny and Hallie found very entertaining to watch. We drove on until we found too much snow to make the road passable. Let me just say that I put my hands over my eyes as Danny turned us around on a very narrow precipice that did not have a turn around spot!