Summit County, Colorado wildflowers are in bloom

This is wildflower season.  I enjoy hiking and I always take my camera, but sometimes even a good camera can't do it justice.  Perhaps a better photographer would be a good idea! 

My favorite hikes in Summit County involve water, and that is because the best wildflowers grow in wet areas.  Wheeler Lakes, Monte Christo, McCullough Gulch, Mesa Cortina and Mayflower Gulch, all have streams or lakes that reward you with awesome displays of flowers.  The flower to the left is Parry's Primrose and it is not found as frequently as some,  It likes very wet areas and usually is near streams.  The photograph above was taken at Wheeler lakes, not far from Copper Mountain and shows a variety of flowers.  The red ones are mostly Indian Paintbrush, a farily common flower here. 

To the right are Lupine and a rather unusual flower called Elephant Head.  The flowers resemble little rounded heads with trunks coming off them, just like an elephant head.  They also like wet, boggy areas. 

Indian Paintrush, to the left, comes in many colors, ranging from white, to red, to pink, and even a hot magenta color.  They are often found where it is drier and they like open meadows. 

We hiked to Boulder Lakes yesterday,  and hope to get a short preview hike in the next few days to Wilder Gulch or Shrine Ridge.  Both are on Vail Pass and are great places for flowers.  My client party is going to be a guided wildflower hike this year, and we hope to see some beauties in one of those two areas.   I will be hiking them to decide which will be the best.