I am back from a wonderful trip to Glacier National Park in Montana, and the Waterton Glacier International Peace Park in Alberta, Canada! It was a long drive, to and from, and my husband put on over 3,000 miles on our car. We loved the sights we saw along the way on our drive through three states, and we especially loved our visits to the two absolutely beautiful scenic parks. In fact my camera has now over 1,000 photos on its memory discs waiting to be downloaded, and so a lot of editing is ahead for me before I'll be able to share, but I look forward to showing you all the beauty we saw in future posts.
In the meantime, I wanted to show you another beautiful place that I visited this summer. It is South Valley Park, a mile walk from my house. I've blogged about the two trails that we walk often, that are located in the park in the past--Coyote Song Trail, and Swallow Trail. Now I'd love to show you the beautiful wildflowers I saw on my walks in this park this summer. All photos and photo collages will enlarge if clicked on.
The park has natural dirt trails that are surrounded by natural grasslands, trees, shrubs, wildlife, as well as beautiful red rock formations.
On one side are the foothills, and the other side...
...a Fountain Formation hogback.
I feel so fortunate when spring and summer arrive and bring such a wonderful array of wildflowers to enjoy in this park. I hope you will enjoy the collages I made of many of them...please click on to enlarge them.
"Stretching his hand up to reach the stars, too often man forgets the flowers at his feet."
~ Jeremy Bentham.
"People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us." ~ Iris Murdoch
"May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day."
~ Native American Proverb
"I will be the gladdest thing under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one."
~ Edna St. Vincent Millay
"Where flowers bloom so does hope."
~ Lady Bird Johnson
Even the shrubs, grasses and trees have a wild beauty.
Bindweed -- Common Mullein -- Thistle
"A weed is but an unloved flower."
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Even though the wildflowers I saw all looked beautiful to my untrained eye, I found out that some of them are considered noxious weed species by the Colorado Department of Agriculture. They are non native and aggressive, replacing native species. You can see the list of noxious weeds on this link. Noxious weeds are spread by animals, humans, water and wind, They can be introduced as seeds in soil, ornamental planting mixes, nursery stock or hitch hike on vehicles. Colorado, like most states is taking aggressive action to decrease the impact noxious weeds make on the landscapes of open space.
South Valley is a peaceful place to walk to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature...
...even the noisy chatter of crows!
Time to go as a thunderstorm quickly approaches over the foothills. I just about made it home in time before the rain came. I will be back in my next post to show more of what I have been doing in Colorado this summer. I hope you have also been enjoying these wonderful summer days!
I'm linking this post to the following blog events:
Seasons, Weekend Travel Inspiration, Amaze Me Monday, Blue Monday, Monday of Many Blessings, Through My Lens Monday, Mosaic Monday, Life Through the Lens Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Inspiration Monday, Good Random Fun, Nature Notes, Grand Social, Our World Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday, You're Gonna Love It Tuesday,Wanderful Wednesday,Wordless Wednesday, Oh My Heartsie Girl's Wonderful Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Share Your Cup Thursday,Little Things Thursday, Thoughts of Home on Thursday, Travel Photo Thursday, Friday Photo Journal, Skywatch Friday, Sweet Inspiration, Friday Features, Share It One More Time, Pink Saturday, Camera Critters, Saturday Critters, Today's Flowers, Macro Flowers
Thank you to all the blog hosts!
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56 comments:
Lovely shots of this wonderful area!
Some very pretty flowers & what awesome amazing rocks
My sweet Pat,
I feel so mesmerized by your landscapes and by the wide variety of wild flowers making by frame at your Paradise, Dearie !
After this period of 'interlude' I had to allow myself due to work reasons - the Short Lets I manage here at Tenuta Geremia, the speech about the Empress of Austria I had to prepare and to perform at the conference which was held last Saturday at Madonna di Campiglio, in our Dolomiti, some works of restoration here and the family to join and follow took me far from the pc for more than a month and a half - I feel so overjoyed to visit you and to find back all the beauty your sweet soul catches in your wonderful shots !
Hope you and your dear ones are doing very well
I'm sending hugs and ever much love to you
Xx Dany
Beautiful flowers, and I love the quotes, too!
A gorgeous corner of the world. Thank you for linking in with "Through My Lens"!
Mersad
Mersad Donko Photography
How lucky you are to have this beautiful scenery close to you, your flower mosaics are gorgeous (since it was crows nesting in our chimney that caused the fire here in April I'm not mad about them, even in a mosaic!)
Happy MM from Normandy.
Hello Pat, gorgeous scenic views and the wildflowers are just beautiful. I would love to take this walk while the wildflowers are in bloom. Glacier is one of my favorite parks, I am looking forward to see your post. Lovely post and photos. Happy Monday, enjoy your new week!
You have such a beautiful place to walk and immerse yourself in nature close to home! I'm sure that there will be some wonderful posts from your 3000 mile journey, so I am looking forward to them.
Wildflowers - it's hard to get one's head around the fact that some of them are invasive and noxious. We have the same thing going up here with broom and budlia which grow in many gardens as well as along the roads and in fields.
'We must be mad with joy'...indeed! Nothing prettier than wildflowers along the trail or in the fields. Many are so exotic and intricate. You've taken so many wonderful photos! Enjoy your week my friend. Hugs, Diane
Amazing variety of wild flowers! Your mosaics of them are so pretty. And wonderful photo of the storm coming.
Oh my gosh - those rock formations are amazing!
Good morning Pat, I know your trip to Glacier Nat. Park was a wonderful experience. We spent a week in that park and loved every minute of it. Did you take the hike of the 'Wall of Wildflowers' which led to a chalet high up in the mountains? It was exhausting but a wonderful hike.
I enlarged your collages and loved every photo and the quotes. I think I told you Lady Bird Johnson had a big influence on the beautiful flowers that are planted every year here in Franklin. They both spent time here when he was president.
I would love to be within walking distance to the beautiful South Valley Park.
I saw your glass bowl on FB. It is gorgeous. We could not afford Chihuly's art either. I can admire it though. Smile.
We drove in to Canada from Glacier Park and saw lots of bears etc. We did not go far enough to see the park though. What a wonderful trip. Can't wait to see your photos.
Hugs,
Jeanne
What a magnificent treat! We have summered in CO many times since I was a child. The CO wildflowers are amazing. Thanks for sparking some great memories of my own, Pat.
Happy Blue Monday!
Love the red rocks and all the wildflowers! You are lucky to have this wonderful park so close to home.
Pat, lucky you! All that beauty just steps from your door. I love wildflowers. Happy Monday and have a great week!
ox
We saw some similar formations in Red Rock CO
Oh such wonderful shots....but that last one...that is amazing!
Gorgeous collection of photos and to have something so special close by. I'm glad you didn't have car troubles traveling all that distance. Beautiful wildflowers! Such a variation. Well done.
What a beautiful place to walk, Pat. The lake looks so tranquil with the wildflowers (or noxious weeds) growing around it. Glad you made it home before the rain began.
I'll look forward to seeing your photos of Waterton Park. We go to Banff National Park, and some of the other ones, but have never been to Waterton. Last week as we drove through the Rockies, we again commented that we would like to get to Waterton some day.
Have a great week.
I'm here from Nature Notes and the link you provided. This whole area is so much like the Red Rocks/and just west of Colorado Springs!!
Beautiful area...like going home for me!! I lived in Colorado up until we retired to the coast.
Gorgeous area and not far from your home. The closest we got to an area which reminded me of that was the Garden of the Gods.... Such a marvelous state you live in ---and I love seeing all of the beautiful wildflowers... So many gorgeous colors... I featured some flowers from Biltmore on my blog today.
Can't wait to see your photos from Glacier.
Hugs,
Betsy
Very lovely wild flowers of amazing variety.
Pat, I love the beauty of wildflowers and I always am excited to see them--noxious or not. This summer has been a hot and humid one, but the wildflowers alongside the road don't mind. Your wildflower collages are stunning. I love the fact you have such beauty so close to your home. I'm looking forward to your visit to Wharton. I've never been there and I just know I won't be disappointed. ♥
This is a beautiful post. Your collages are wonderful, full of color and texture. It's like an all-you-can-eat buffet of photos.
"Lovely" seems a small word for the grandeur of your photos.
Thank you for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2016/08/along-eno-river.html
Thank you for sharing this glorious trip with you. I have a big weakness for flowers.
What stunning wild flowers!
Thank you fort taking us on this trip with you - beautiful wildflowers, and also the red rocks! Noxious weeds - I'm leaning something every time here! Many thanks for adding your trip to SEASONS, Pat! Have an awesome week!
How fortunate to live so close this beautiful area and those gorgeous wildflowers ~ Wonderful photos and love the collage effect ~ thanks,
Wishing you a lovely week ~ ^_^
Beautiful mosaics of the "noxious" weeds. =D I don't know what I think about them because some of my favorite flowers are considered invasive and noxious like lupins. Love them! Your pictures are always wonderful, Pat. The first is striking! I must be hungry because the rock formations look like soft serve chocolate ice cream cones.
Beautiful collages.
Worth a Thousand Words
Such intriguing, unusual rock formations. Splendid views and a colourful range of flowers.
What a happy post Pat ...the flowers are beautiful (I don't know which ones are invasive ... In real or virtual in Colorado or in Florida). And I loved all your quotes. It's a wonderful place to walk!
Such a beautiful park. Hopefully we can make it to Glacier on our next National Park trip.
I remember past trips to Colorado in the summer and feeling the same way about the wildflowers as you do, Pat. You've captured them beautifully in these photos.
I am amazed at the number of flowers you found on your walk. I have never seen some of those flowers. So great a park so beautiful is close to your house.
What wonderful scenery! The colors of the flowers are awesome and the rocks are unique. The wide open spaces are spectacular!
You live a very pretty part of the state. This has been a good year for the wild flowers in Colorado with all of the rain. Yes, I recognized all of the weeds. We wage war on the Canadian Thistle here at the Garden Spot and the bind weed, kindly referred to as morning glory, but it will sure wreck a landscape. Your photos are always gorgeous and your narrative interesting.
Wonderful photos yet again.
I lived in Utah for a long time and miss the west sometimes very much,
Awww Such beautiful images! Have a lovely day ♥
summerdaisycottage.blogspot.com
Those are some thunderstorm clouds!!
Meanwhile the variety of the wildflowers is just amazing..all so pretty! What a wonderful place to walk and visit and have it so close to home.
beautiful post...the wildflowers are so pretty
Oh Pat! What magnificent views! This is a spot I've never traveled and it looks so very inviting. I loved the flower photos. Glorious!
Your first picture looks so unreal! I can't believe that people are actually allowed to build houses so close to these rocks - gorgeous!
Pat, your photos are so beautiful. That looks like an amazing trip. :)
excellent.
This is a beautiful nature post..thank you for linking in Pat...Michelle
Glacier National Park is on my bucket list. What lovely scenes you've captured. I love all the wildflowers -- so much variety. Looks like a memorable 3,000-mile trip!
You don't need to travel thousands of miles to see beautiful National Parks, because you live in one beautiful park.
It's amazing how you can describe the urbal life in NYC and the wild landscape of Colorado making me fell for both...thank you as always for sharing your beautiful photos and your outdoor experiences...
The wildflowers are lovely. I once commented on the beauty of a yellow flower growing on the hillside near my home. My father quickly told me it was a noxious weed- Dyers Woad. I guess it's beauty depends on who is looking at it-farmers' or silly nature lovers that don't have to deal with it (that would be me). You are so lucky to travel to those beautiful parks.
Gosh. Thanks for these great photos! I grew up in Alberta and it has been many many years since I've been back. happy sigh
Such pretty scenery and lovely shots.
Such gorgeous shots! Glacier National Park is my husband's favorite, and he's been to most of them. Acadia is a close second.
=)
Pat, I missed several of your posts while I was on blog break. I'm enjoying seeing all these wonderful wildflowers. You do have a beautiful place to hike right out your back door. I love the rock formations!
Beautiful photos and story. I enjoyed it!
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