A fine day in the foothills, it was cloudy to start but slowly cleared. The trail had a few muddy spots and the steeper hillsides were dry:

Carl & Carmie on the steepest slope of the hike

The forest aspens and ground cover were all a lush green in the fullness of spring. Some early flowers were out, notably dandelions and shooting stars as well as a sample of forget-me-not:


early spring Shooting Stars

At the summit we had the sunny picnic table to ourselves for a while, with a few mosquitoes which were not very bothersome. The air was very clear with views east to the prairie and west to the snowy mountains:


Mesa Butte panorama

We were going to do the loop but with the wettish spring and last Sunday's deluge possibly making the boggy sections of that return even muddier than usual we opted to return the way we had come. Back at the parking lot a couple of hikers who had come that way back said we had made the right decision because they had found it to be quite a mudhole.

Thanks to Carl and Carmie for joining me, Ron on this excursion to the foothills.,

---