Piper's Meadow

 

Yesterday A. and I hiked up to Piper's Meadow from the cabin. The view was absolutely stunning. All I needed was a shade and a picnic lunch, a good book and a sketch pad, and I could have spent the entire afternoon relaxing in this beautiful place. This picture was taken from http://www.joeandfrede.com/colorado/glen_haven/glen_haven.htm?photo=3  and it close to what the meadow looked like yesterday.

The wonderful thing about the meadow and really the entire area right now, is the abundance of wild flowers. I know the Maroon Bells area is famous for its wild flowers, but I really can't imagine that there are more there than what we have in our own alpine region. There are so many kinds and we have been trying to identify them, but it is a strange quest to search through two or three books and still not find the bright pink that is smiling across the entire field. For now, they go unnamed in my mind, though the depths of the colors do not go unnoticed.

We did get to see a very pretty beetle name the "Pleasing  Fungus" Beetle. A. had thought that it might be a pine beetle. Pine beetles have killed so many trees in the area and I was a little surprised and saddened that this lovely shell of steel blue and black dots was responsible. I admit to being quite happy when I found an image of the pine beetle and realized it was not the beetle I had seen.

 

Pleasing Fungus Beetle