Author: BradinMontana

Amazing early walk up Mini-ridge to the Helena Ridge Trail and down Emmets this morning. Loads and loads of flowers and two new birds for the year. Starry False Solomons Seal (shown), Blue Violet, Kinnikinnick, Sticky Geranium, Aster, Cutleaf Anemone, Monument Plant, and Ballhead Ipomopsis. Nearly every flower species we have seen since March is…

I love this flower and I have never seen it on the north side of Mount Helena. I usually make several trips to Mini-ridge over a two week period in mid- to late May to find this flower in bloom. I was slightly shocked when I found it on a lunchtime walk with a Lab…

I always chuckle when I hear this statement. Wildflowers thrive in the rocky, dry “soil” that fills in the cracks in the bedrock all aroudn the state. Then it snows on them. Then they bake in the sun and get windblown by our (often in excess of) 20 to 30mph winds. We should all be…

Forget-me-nots are popping up all over right now. This is one of my favorite wildflowers- it’s such a happy shade of blue. These beauties will start being harder to find over the course of the next few weeks, but for a while, I’ll find them from the lower slopes all the way up the Ridge…

his a beautiful Rockcress- I’m struggling a bit to ID it to the species level. It’s the right color for Lyall’s, but likely too low in elevation. The flowers droop like Collins, but they are also hairy like Second- which I learned as Holboell’s. So. Does it matter? Nope. It’s quite pretty and I enjoyed…

I love finding these papery little flowers- I only found a couple last year. This year, this trail had dozens. Bitterroot Meadows area on NE Mount Helena. I’ve found lots of two species of cactus in bloom, but I have yet to find a Spiny Star. I’ve heard that some are found along the trails…

I’m pretty certain this one is Holboell’s Rockcress. Sometimes called Second Rockcress. This one is really pretty and I spent a little longer than usual lying on the ground to get this shot. There is also loads of Nuttall’s Rockcress out there right now. Still waiting on Lyall’s Rockcress. It’s amazing to me what the…

Painted Lady butterfly. This one was waaaay skeptical of me. It took a while for me to get this shot – and I had to lie on the ground to do so. It hasn’t happened this year (yet) but once in a while some other hiker comes across me lying down to get an image,…

Officially, Wildflower week starts next Monday, but I celebrate Wildflower Month for the whole of May. I found a white Shooting Star on the 1906 trail, Sagebrush Buttercups on the Diretissima trail and Prairie Smoke on the Swaney trail. Wildflowering season is upon us!

I didn’t expect to find two species of snakes hanging out in the 40 degree weather. But there you go! Neither one would allow me to catch them for a better image, which is probably for the better. I haven’t handled snakes in a long time and I would not have wanted to hurt either…