I am writing this from a cabin in the rocky mountains of Colorado.  (Can you call it a cabin if it’s got wireless internet and satellite TV?  Probably not…)  Anyway, we’re taking a family vacation this week, so I’ve been seeing some landscapes, plants, and animals I’m not used to.

However, I got a pleasant surprise yesterday when we reached the end of a long hiking trail in the Mount Evans Wilderness.  The terminus of the trail was a high, wide open meadow (elevation 11,500 feet) with scattered bristlecone pines and abundant blooming wildflowers.  It felt much more like home than the steep wooded slopes we climbed to reach it.  Many of the wildflowers looked like they must be related to plants I know from home, but I didn’t know what many of them were – with one exception.

Pasqueflower (Pulsatilla patens) at 11,500 feet in the Mount Evans Wilderness south of Idaho Springs, Colorado.

I sure didn’t expect to see pasque flower at 11,500 feet elevation!  Can you believe a species found in the prairies of Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska also thrives way up in the alpine meadows of Colorado?  That’s quite a range!

Pasqueflower seedheads in the same meadow.

I’ll probably post some more photos from our trip next week.  For now, you can always go look at last year’s batch…