American Basin, June 24

Here we are, embarking on our first travel on the Alpine Loop road, toward Cinnamon Pass and into American Basin. We plan to repeat this trip this week for the mid-summer photo outing when we think the flowers will be at their peak.

At this time of the season, snow is still all over the mountainsides. It's a pleasure to take the trip while the trail is damp (no dust) and before the holiday crowds come. There was little traffic, everything looked and smelled green and fresh.

Even so, the restroom stops were crowded, partly with hiker/campers and partly with folks like us, doing the trip in everything from ATV's to sedans!

Just wait till the flowers are at their prime--the trail will be more chewed up from vehicular traffic, and the volume will exponentially increase.

In mid-July this bowl will be covered with native columbine and other high mountain flowers. It's a spectacular sight, described in one of our trail books as "one of the best places in the area for wildflowers." We can't imagine anyplace could beat this spot.

At this time, there were only a few displays, and this one, which I figured out is called Alpine Wallflower, is a specimen we'd not seen previously. An enlargement hangs in our dining area. The colors were amazing, the combination of deep red-violet at the center of intense lemon yellow blooms. Nice!