Summer......this time its different.

 

The wet spring should have changed our summer.  This summer I paid careful attention to the changes as a result of our long spring weather.  The obvious was the extended wildflower season.  It is almost September and you can still find wildflowers finishing their blooming season.  

Well, all those wildflowers did have one effect.  That is an explosion of butterflies of all species and types.  Camas Meadows is a "butterfly" destination and as such you can find people swishing nets during spring and summer.  Normally, we end up with one or two species being very common during the summer.  This summer there are many species and all of them are fairly common.  So next time we have a wet spring I should just look forward to the summer butterflies.  Here is a picture of a couple of wood nymphs living up to their name and ensuring a population for next year.

Besides butterflies there has been an explosion of pinedrops throughout the meadow area.  I have always noticed pinedrops throughout my career in the woods, but this year they are very abundant at Camas Meadows.  Here is a link to a Forest Service wildflower site with more information on the species:  PineDrops.  The species has threatened and endangered status back east.  I suspect the species went west to enjoy the wet spring at Camas.

We have not seen the elk in the meadow, but have heard their bugling at night.  The rut is still several weeks away, so the nighttime racket of bull elk rattling the aspens and bugling all night long is still weeks away.

It will be interesting to see if the fall color change is more intense due to the late spring.  Fall colors usually start showing up by late September and reach their peak the first two weeks in October.

We have had some glorious dark nights for viewing the stars.   Just perfect for getting that scope out for viewing the summer Milky Way and the fall constellations.  Early risers can also get a sneak peak at the winter stars.   Here is the weather forecast just for viewing the stars at Camas:  Camas Meadow Clear Sky Chart.

We are booked for Labor Day weekend and September 23rd weekend.

All other times are still open so book your last summer weekend or that fall color trip in October!