April 27 - Rock Canyon (Provo UT)

Another day in the 70s, time to go looking for more bflys and see more UT. Heading to Rock Canyon as it has been recommended as a good bfly stop.

This site is truly a canyon big towering walls and the canyon get narrower the further you get in.

The trail looks like an old road mostly rocks -- about the last 3/4 mile it finally gets to a narrower dirt path. The trail follows a dry creek bed -- its not until you get about 3/4-1mi from the end is there water running -- and it has to be siphoned off because one minute it's there, and then there's no water (so much for subdivision and watering lawns in a desert climate :()

But anyway, the trail was all uphill (elevation at TH 5073 -- end 6769) for 2.8 miles. Mostly forested but the trees still have no leaves. Some are starting to get them and those trees kinda stick out - basically adding a little color to a very brown environment.

Not many flowers  on the lower part of the trail. Saw several Anise Swallowtails zipping by. These are yellow in color with alot of black. Also, saw a couple Rky Mt Duskwings, a few Mourning Cloaks and one Orangetip. When the water starting flowing (around the 3rd bridge) the bfly activity rose.  Added a Silvery Blue on a blue forget-me-not flower and Commas (both Hoary and Satyr). The commas were onesy for a bit and then what better draws the Comma family together than dog poop. :)

At one point heard a bird pecking at the tree -- I looked up, not a woodpecker but what looked to me like a nuthatch. He (or she) was pecking at a hole in the tree as if to enlarge it for nesting.

When I finally got to the single path dirt trail, things changed. There wasn't much flying but we got flowers now -- Yellow voilets, Glacier lilies, forget-me-knots, Spring Beautys - wonderful. The path went up the side of a hill/mt -- pretty nice drop off one the one side but at least there was plenty of trees to stop a fall. Once off the ledge (so to speak), it was uphill just a little more to a wonder view of snow covered mts and a waterfall and flowing stream (in the distance).

Continued to a campground - it had sites, outhouse, said "reservation required" - and decided it was lunchtime (and the turnaround point). It was beautiful and I had it all to myself (not sure where the folks went that past me -- or the ones I past, they never made it to the campground). Some might have gone further as there 2 other trails that kept going to somewhere. But the solitude was nice w/ snow covered mts off in one direction.

Oh yes, there was snow in spots on the trail especially towards the end!!

The trail back had many more bflys flying (warmer, sunnier). Lots for M Cloaks and Commas and many more Orangetips flying (there was one that landed o' so briefly but I just wasn't quick enough to get a photo). Lots more people heading up now. Many had rock climbing gear; others just out like me.

Almost back to the TH, I got off the trail just to look down to the dry river bed. A small flyer caught my eye. Definitely a bfly but I just couldn't get a good angle of it. So I made it fly :) It landed nicely on a flower -- a Desert Elfin (little cutie).

That's the day.