Lovell Gulch outside of Woodland Park, Colorado on June 17, 2015.

It is truly time to get back to posting my hikes. Or at least the images that I captured on them.

Lovell Gulch was awesome today!

If you can get up to Lovell Gulch for a hike in the next few days, you will be able to catch the most incredible profusion of Wild Iris I have seen in years.

The hillsides and fields were filled with them.

Some were past prime, others hadn’t bloomed yet. I was in awe!

And we have been enjoying the best Iris year all around Manitou Springs, so it was a real treat to see the Wild Iris where also showing off this very wet year.

I don’t know what the name of these purple, and multicolored flowers, but they were everywhere.

I had captured just a couple of single Indian Paint Brush, when near the end there was a hillside filled with them.

There were just a few Shooting Stars, one of my favorite flowers that remind me of ones that grew in a field behind my childhood home in Wildwood, IL.

I only saw one Columbine. Is there time past, or just beginning?

And only one butterfly posed for me this trip.

Big Monarchs would fly right past me, then continue on their journey.

And then there were many other flowers including these sweet little daisies.

The Pine trees in Lovell Gulch are putting on a different type of show of beauty.

The budding Pine Cones are coming out in all different colors and shapes.

I could have spent hours just taking pictures of these beauties.

But the wind had started to come up and it was sprinkling a bit, so had to leave.

And the wind did make it a bit challenging to get them to hold still, but I think I got some good images to share.

It was a really beautiful day for a hike!

The weather did change a bit as we hiked for about 4 and half hours.

Started out with a pure blue sky.

Then some clouds showed up.

And then a bit darker clouds.

And finally wind and dark skies, but no rain.

So we headed home spiritually renewed, happy and tired.