This is our second home, a place of natural beauty, where the lodgepole pine forests of most of Island Park give way to fir and aspen north of Henry’s Lake, around our cabin and near Raynolds Pass.
Magnificent wildflowers carpet the fields and hillsides each spring. Early in June, delicate glacier lilies cover the ground, and flowers like the shooting star, western virgin’s bower, and sugar bowls bloom.
Glacier Lily
Shooting Star
Western Virgin's Bower
The rare Calypso Orchid below was photographed somewhere in Fremont County. I have promised not to reveal where, as it is rare and endangered in large part due to the impact of human development on its habitat and growing requirements. The plant has very precise requirements regarding the soil and other conditions in which it grows, including the particular fungi in the soil. Even walking close to it can disturb the soil enough to jeopardize the health and reproduction of the plant. What a lovely, delicate flower.
In contrast to the delicate beauty of the orchid is the showy, splashy bright yellow of the mules ears that bloom around early July. These are actually my favorite flower around our cabin, because they cover acres of the surrounding hillsides, and meadows throughout Island Park, with bright swatches of color. The acre and a half of wildflower meadow below our home is dominated by these flowers for a few weeks every summer - amazing us with the saturation of color that is almost more than the eye can take in, and defining my mental image of this place that I love.
Calypso Orchid
In contrast to the delicate beauty of the orchid is the showy, splashy bright yellow of the mules ears that bloom around early July. These are actually my favorite flower around our cabin, because they cover acres of the surrounding hillsides, and meadows throughout Island Park, with bright swatches of color. The acre and a half of wildflower meadow below our home is dominated by these flowers for a few weeks every summer - amazing us with the saturation of color that is almost more than the eye can take in, and defining my mental image of this place that I love.
Yellow Mules Ears
Interspersed in this bright wildflower meadow are sticky geranium, lupine, and paintbrush, along with many, many other flowers that will come and go in their natural sequence throughout the summer.
Sticky Geranium
Lupine
Paintbrush
The birds are all in their brightest breeding plumage in June, and the annual robin’s nest appears again under our deck.
Breakfast for the babies!
We are cautioned by Forest Service flyers left at our door, and by the local newspaper, to keep bird feeders 10 feet off the ground and 4 feet from the nearest vertical support so as not to attract bears - or better yet, not to put out feeders at all!
This season there have been more bears around homes and cabins here than in the eleven years we have been in Island Park, and our neighbors all have stories of a large black bear that had been regularly circulating through our area up to a couple of weeks before we arrived, climbing up on porches and decks and peering through windows. Two years ago we found big bear paw prints in the dust on our garage door, five to six feet above ground level. However, we have still only once seen a bear in our area in eleven summers, which is fine with us.
Some of the birds here are so bright and exotic looking they might look appropriate in the tropics.
Lazuli Bunting
Western Tanager
The tree swallow and mountain bluebird are both cavity nesters that readily build their nests in nest boxes provided by humans. The tree swallow seems to be more aggressive, winning out most fights over a nest box. But this one chose the more natural route, nesting in an aspen that faces the morning sun.
Tree Swallow
Mountain Bluebird
Other frequently sighted birds:
Rufous Hummingbird
Red-Naped Sapsucker
Black-Headed Grosbeak
About the third week in July, a blue-winged teal appears on the pond with 11 ducklings. In this photo they are about a week old.
Nearby, a spotted sandpiper hops along the bank, with the characteristic bobbing of its rear end.
