Wildflower Festival Photography Morning

Columbine dripping with dew

I love the backs of these flowers. Notice the little drops at the ends.

I think I was the only person that was interested in the lichen on the rock

I think this is Chainpod

American Vetch dripping with dew

Penstemon

It's a visual treat to find Columbine under Aspens

Penstemon

Scarlet Gilia or Fairy Trumpet

Penstemon

One of many types of Sunflowers

Red Clover

Paradise Divide in the background against a cloudy sky

Wild Blue Flax

Lupine

Crested Butte is the Wildflower Capital of Colorado and they have an annual Wildflower Festival. There are a lot of different classes and tours that you can take during the week of the Wildflower Festival. I arranged for a photography class with a local photographer, Rebecca Weil of Third Eye Photography. Our class met at the school at 6 a.m. and headed out to a local trail, Woods Walk. The dew was heavy on the flowers as the sun came up and there were more Columbine there than last year. In fact, the area was loaded with Columbine! Last year I had to hunt for Columbine. For the next three hours, we spent our time together as a class learning about depth of field and composition and she turned us loose on the flowers. It was really fun! I'm looking forward to attending more classes next year.

Snodgrass Mountain

Snodgrass trail winds through Private Property. Loved the ladder to let us get over the fence.

The flowers this year are just stunning!

Gorgeous sunflowers everywhere

Indian Paintbrush

Crested Butte with homes in the foreground

Lupine against Aspens

Lupine (we call these Bluebonnets in Texas)

Hallie and Danny on the trail

Beautiful Lupine everywhere

I don't forge trails, I walk on paths.

Beautiful Lupine with Crested Butte in the background

A little ladybug

Dodging rainshowers means beautiful droplets on foliage

Conifers just putting out their new leaves

Loved this cute bee on the Lupine

headed back to the car

One of my favorite images of today

We spent Sunday afternoon hiking on Snodgrass mountain. This was a new hike for us and did not disappoint. The actual trail is 3 miles long, but after 1 1/2 miles, Hallie and I told Danny we were exhausted and we knew there was another 1 1/2 miles back to the car. We are absolutely amazed at how beautiful the flowers are this year. Last year we thought there were a lot of flowers, but were told that it was an off year. This year is a bumper crop! There has been a late snow melt, with some roads still impassable because of ice. This has also been a high moisture year which is apparently very good for flowers. We had a good time on Snodgrass even though we did get caught in the rain a little on the way back. Hopefully one day we'll make the whole trail.

Farmer's Market

Having Fun at the Farmer's Market on Elk

This guy is pretty popular. Danny and Hallie found some goat cheese they liked.

Sampling Goat Cheese and Homemade Hummus

Its very odd to find baked goods at High Altitude events. This was quite a surprise!

A little dry, but not bad.

Gourmet Wood Fired Pizza

A traveling wood oven

My Margherita Pizza, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, and homemade pizza sauce...yummy

This guy is really popular....crepes for Danny and Hallie

Can't have a crepe without Nutella!

We started the day today with worship at Oh Be Joyful, our church home away from home. After worship, Hallie and I took Danny to the Farmer's Market. The Farmer's Market lines up on Elk Street (the main street) and has everything from Goat Cheese to Oven Fired Pizza to Jewelry. We had fun walking up and down checking out the different booths. I wish I liked Goat Cheese because the Roubideau guy's booth is always really popular. Hallie has decided to try new things and helped Danny pick a goat cheese that they both liked. This booth also has the Best homemade hummus. We decided to eat lunch there with crepes and wood fired pizza and then went home to plan our afternoon excursion.