Glacier lily & pasque flowers

Oh my....boy was it cold today.

At our camp beside Bovine Lake the wind screamed and the temperature continued to drop. Out on the pass from whence we descended yesterday it seems as if two weather fronts have met and our duking it out. We are here below it, while out on the distance plains we can see from here the sun is shining.

Luckily this is a rest day for us and we can hunker down. Casey and I did check-ins the whole day with students individually to see how everyone is doing. We have a good group but it is very male dominated and there is too much ego and machismo that gets thrown around for my taste. This is an issue for a group that needs to cooperate out of mutual respect and appreciation. Part of our check in today is to smooth things over from an argument between some factions in the group yesterday. And so we shivered in our tent trying to stay warm and held "meeting" there in our little office.

Amazingly, at one point it started snowing that day. Some of the students couldn't get over it. Snow in July! And were jumping all around and hollering - it was something else. With almost all of our food gone I rationed out the last of my tea to warm up my bones and a few morsels of chocolate I have been saving this whole time. Tomorrow we hike out, for now though I am just trying to stay warm.

After our meetings Casey and I went on a walk nearby. We looked for bighorn sheep on the red cliffs that ring in this valley but saw none. Meandered through old game trails and muddy seeps unraveling the comings and goings of wildlife - moose, wolf, and mule deer mostly. And for some reason there are delicate yellow glacier lillies everywhere by this lake. Walking through them feels enchanted and romantic - like something from a surrealist painting or children's fantasy. And what's more, they are tasty and edible. Fresh, like field greens with a sweet floral tone - perfect in a wild gathered salad.