June. First summer hike...

Early June is a great time for hiking. The weather is not too toasty and colorful flowers are everywhere. So - let's wake up in the morning and drive up to the mountains (somewhere in the range of one hour driving) and walk around...

 

First you can see, once you jump out of the car, is the sky... Deep blue marbled with white cloudy clouds (ops, I know, but pun intended ;) ). The colors are subtle and kinda faded, green of leaves is not dominated as it is down in the city, the grass is still spring-like - awakened, but not as lush as downhills. But I hope we still be able to enjoy some nice mountain flowers while we are hiking...

And... there were some nice and shy flowers we don't see that often. Pasqueflower (Pulsatilla patens) - these flowers prefer colder regions and wetter lands, that is why you don't see them downhills. Pasqueflower is a powerful healing agent. Native Americans and settlers used small amounts for various ailments and conditions: dried leaves (most likely a tea) for rheumatism, a poultice of pressed dried leaves as a topical treatment, an aroma-therapy bouquet of freshly dried ground leaves to alleviate headaches, and pulverized roots were used to combat lung disorders.

By the way - both of the next two pictures are showing the same flower ;) Even though they look... hmm... not exactly the same ;) That is what I like about mountains - nothing is simple and straightforward there, even flowers!

But let's take a look up at the hills surrounding the Central City area. The views is why I like wandering here so much. Views and aspen leaves, one never can be tired looking at all of it...

And flowers... wild and simple (but still just beautiful).

And now let's play the game. Can you spot the hummingbird in the next picture? If you cannot - don't worry and just scroll to the next one for a clue ;)

At some point I found a nice opening where bright pink spots caught my eye. Stepped closer to find a couple of nice (but prickly) balls, hiding between the rocks. Nice... aren't they?

And these small hummingbirds again. I never thought that such a small bird could be so noisy. I knew they were fast... but... I had a feeling that I was a witness of some kind of fight - they were zipping around, up and down and chirping so loudly... That was fun, actually ;)

When you are hiking in the mountains you should look down as often as you look up. And when you do it you see the... rocks... but quite impressive rocks! They are covered with colorful lichen and look like they were brought from some alien's planet, aren't they?  

Astonishing views from the tophills. It felt like I could stay here forever, just looking around.

I wish I could explore the area in the winter. These red berries should look absolutely stunning with the snow, huh? But... actually green background is working well too ;)

Yeah... there are some barbed wire fences here and there, but I didn't expect to find another hummingbird resting on it. And it was very cautious... let me to come close, but not too close and next moment it just disappeared with this quite wwwwwiiizzzz sound and it was hard to find it again in the sky.

Bunch of the roads crossing the hillsides up and down. I mean, this one is really flat, and easy to walk or drive...

But what about this one? I can climb it up alright (but my heart was pumping hard when I finally get up) but no car can do it, right? (just keep in mind the picture looks twice flatter compared to reality :) ).

 

Or can? Stepping over the ridge I found an old weathered Bronko resting on the top of the hill. This beast was made climbing the rocks and going offroad wherever needed. Yeah, it's old, but still capable enough to climb these hills and nothing can stop it. Despite its brutal appearance it goes by girly name and if you talk her into it, can bring you technically everywhere. And I know, it looks like a strange place to park the car...

 

Unless you can see the astonishing landscape that opens in front of the windshield! This view is worth climbing up on the bumpy roads. And I can see myself sitting there all day and feel all the stress just washing away...

By this point some good time was spent up the hills, but, unfortunately, that was time driving back, so I needed to climb down to the parking lot. But... I'll come back! I promise!

Pictures were taken on June 04, 2022.