While the mountains were full of wildflowers, I did not have much luck getting good pictures of them. The abundance of flowers meant I was always trying for landscape shots that showed the colorful meadows. But wildflowers, especially subalpine ones, are on the small side. Get too far away, and you can barely see them at all. So we’ll have to make do with this close-up, which at least gives you a taste of the beauty that was all around us:

I took a number of tree photos. For some reason, they look better when they’re dead. (Probably it’s just easier to appreciate their structure when they no longer have any leaves.)

These birch trees have been stripped of their bark (up to a point) by grazing elk.

While it makes for interesting texture, I’m afraid it can’t be good for the trees.

Tomorrow: we leave the mountains to spend some time marveling at the plains of Colorado.