Flowers in the Outback

 My adventurous wife Bib decided to ride her mountain bike from Plumas/Eureka State Park to the tiny town of LaPorte, a very challenging ride in a Subaru much less on a bicycle. I was driving the Subaru to be available in case of emergencies. Much of the road is strewn with rocks of all sizes, and some places had deep ruts which could easily leave our Subaru high-centered. In other words, both driving a car and riding a mountain bike required steady focus. The above photo was taken near the beginning of the journey, just a mile out of the state park.  A spring coming out of the south flank of Eureka Peak supports a dense bunch of wildflowers.  Here, and many other spots along the way, I was able stop for a while to photograph wildflowers then catch up with the brave cyclist.

 Several wet spots along the way had great displays of Leopard Lilies.

 At about the halfway point, we passed through high-altitude meadows dominated by Mule's Ears. One needs to get off the bike or out of the car to appreciate the many less noticeable species like the Leichtlin's Mariposa Lilies above.

 The Snow Plants (above) have already dried up at the Quincy elevation, 3,400', here we are above 5,000' and they are looking spectacular.

 In most of the wet spots that did not have Leopard Lilies, I found Scarlet Gilia (above) and Mountain Asters (coming in my next post).  At this point, I should explain why I called this are the "outback."  Not Western Australia for sure, yet we didn't see any other vehicles on the whole trip.  In fact, no other people except a lone backpacker at the PCT crossing.  We asked "where are you coming from?" and he answered "Mexico" without missing a stride.

 Common along the way was the Crimson Columbine.

Asters a beautiful even without visiting arthropods, but, to me, even more beautiful when adorned by a crab spider.  Click on any of these photos for close-up views.