King’s Crown – Rhodiola integrifolia
In early July, Mikl and I always take some time off to celebrate our wedding anniversary, and to escape the Front Range heat. This year, we decided on a stay-cation, with day-trip forays into the high alpine tundra, so easy for us to access from here. Just as spring came early down here at a mere mile above sea level, so it did up in the mountains. In past years, our early July trips to the alpine zone brought us to snowfields in mid-melt, revealing the very first blooms of the tundra – mostly with their feet in the water. Lots of white Anemones and their relatives. This time, the alpine Spring had sprung forward and it was a different world up there!
Mertensia
Our first destination was Summit Lake on Mount Blue Sky (formerly known as Mount Evans), at 12,850’ elevation. Where we had in previous years encountered very wet meadows, the trails were mostly dry, and the landscape was a fairyland of what rock-gardeners call ‘buns’ and ‘cushions’ and ‘mats’, studded with little jewel-like blooms in pinks, purples, stripes, whites, yellows and blues, and bursts of brilliant blues of Polemonium viscosum (Skypilot) and at least two species of Mertensia (among many unrelated plants called ’bluebells’), as well as white ‘drumsticks’ of Bistort, wine-red King’s crown, sunshine-yellow Hymenoxys grandiflora (Old Man of the Mountain), carpets of golden Potentilla, feathery purple Phacelia sericea, and so many more, including a new find for us, the delicate white Chionophila jamesii (Rocky Mt. Snowlover), which is considered rare. We also stopped at Mount Goliath, accessed along the same road but at a lower elevation. This area is managed by Denver Botanic Gardens and offers fabulous ancient Bristlecone Pine trees and rock gardens full of the area’s native flora.
Hymenoxys grandiflora
The next destination was Rocky Mountain National Park, where we headed straight to the alpine tundra, encountering rocky slopes, meadows and outcrops at a number of stops along the road. Some of the the flora here overlapped with the plant communities we’d seen at Summit Lake, but also included many plants we hadn’t seen there. If I had time, I could go on and on.
Phacelia sericea
But what I really want to say is that you’ve got to find time to get up to the high country, and soon! It’s magical up there! RMNP doesn’t require reservations if you arrive before 9:00am or if you take a bus there. Otherwise, you do need to book a reservation online in advance. There is a reasonable fee for park entry. Advance reservations are also required to access the high country on Mount Blue Sky beyond Echo Lake. Try to arrive in the high country in the morning to reduce the chances of stormy weather.
Castilleja
Wild Orchid – RMNP
Silene acaulis
Alpine potentilla