More from Mink Creek

I took a lot of pictures up there, partially because I was experimenting and trying to figure out what made a photograph "wow" vs. "eh". I got a few "wows", and have decided that there is an element of luck. For instance, in the picture at left, I was only trying to get the Indian Paintbrush. I had no idea the spider was even there until I got the pictures off my camera and looked at them on my computer. You'll probably have to click on the picture and embiggenate it to see the spider. It's on the stem just below the flower. Four more nice shots below the fold.





Then this dragonfly just hung out on a blade of grass while I took shot after shot of him (?). I got surprisingly close without scaring him off, and was able to get many good shots. The picture here was at the best angle, imo. It's hard to tell in the picture, but he was at least 2.5 inches long, maybe 3.




This is only the second time I've seen monkshood, which is in the larkspur family. There were two large clusters of it, both in relatively swampy areas. I suspect I usually don't make it out until the swamps have dried up, but the extra rain this year made swamp-loving plants last longer.





And this one I've never seen before, though there was quite a bit of it in the highest meadow I hiked to. It looks vaguely like a larkspur, but I've never seen a larkspur with that coloration. I'll probably look it up eventually, but it was nice to see a new flower for the first time in a while.





Lastly, we again have a strong element of luck. I just happened across this seed, most likely from a goatsbeard aka salsify plant, stuck to a head of grass. It was awesome, and I got a surprisingly good picture of it.