Green season - in late spring and early summer when both the new deciduous leaves and wild grasses are lush and lime-colored - is my favorite time of year. It gets even better when the wildflowers start to bloom. Double bonus.

Both events are underway in Grand Teton National Park. It's hard to guess how long the greens will last. We had adequate snowfall over the winter and May was cold. Following a mini heat-wave with warmer than average temperatures the first week of June - which rapidly melted a lot of mountain snow - the pendulum swung back in the other direction. The park got some snow overnight Monday into Tuesday, and both Monday and Tuesday were quite chilly. Cold overnights in June are not at all unusual.

At any rate, it's really green right now, it's gorgeous, and I hope it lasts for a while.

As far as the flowers go, even with the most favorable of conditions the bloom season is short and the types of flowers you'll see tends to change rapidly.

Wildflowers - and the people who are trying to photograph them - so far this year have been punished with persistent high winds. It's already annoyingly windy here, but this spring has been off the charts. Everyone is complaining about it; not just me. :)

Shooting flowers in windy conditions is difficult, and focus stacking is out of the question. Patience and persistence are prerequisites, and even then you might not be able to make any pictures.

Cold is another factor that can impact the crop. If it gets too chilly overnight, many of the flowers that are in bloom will end up hanging their heads as the sun comes up the next morning. When that happens, there's no coming back; they're done for the year. A hard freeze doesn't kill the plants, but it does put the kibosh on anything that happens to be flowering. Until this week that hadn't been an issue. Even with the snowfall overnight Monday, it managed to keep from dipping down into the 20s. Tuesday night into Wednesday, however, was a different story. It was 26 degrees at sunrise.

Unsurprisingly, I saw quite a few droopy wildflowers yesterday morning.

If you're a non-photographer and ever wondered how it can take years to make some photographs, this is Exhibit A.

Like so many good things, both the flowers and lime greens are fleeting, so I've been working in the park quite a bit over the past few weeks trying to make hay while the sun shines.

Until yesterday, early wildflowers - the lupines and Arrowleaf Balsamroot - have looked good and are plentiful. I made the photographs posted here between last Friday and this past Tuesday; this will give you a taste of what GTNP looks like when dotted with lovely bouquets.

If you're planning on visiting the park soon, don't despair. There will be plenty of blooms for you to see. Many other varieties not yet ready to flower are waiting their turn to put on a show. This cold snap won't have impacted them.

Dotting the ground beneath the Tetons with color, the wildflowers further decorate a place already drenched in beauty.

It's a special time of year.

The earth laughs in flowers.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

In Local News

Crews continue to work 24 hours/day on the construction of a temporary detour so the Teton Pass can (at least partially) re-open. I read Tuesday that they're just about ready to begin paving. If the two-week projection on this project holds, the road will be back in business before the end of the month.

No plan and/or timetable regarding a permanent solution has been announced.

There's also the matter of the large mudslide which caused the original closure of the roadway. The highway has been cleared, but its repair - which involves the construction of culverts to allow for drainage - could impede the flow of traffic. (If they're saying it could, I think it's reasonable to interpret that it will.) The price tag on the mudslide project is nearly $900k.

Meanwhile, driving through the Snake River Canyon, the only alternate route between Eastern Idaho and Jackson, is...unpleasant. Not because of the scenery, which during green season is absolutely stunning, but because it takes longer. Which nobody likes. More mileage, more time, more fuel. In Swan Valley, a sign warns you to "expect heavy traffic." They're not kidding.

I understand that people who have to travel back and forth between the states on a daily basis are probably "up to here" with the whole thing - but too many taking that route are driving like reckless maniacs. I've seen more than a handful of near-misses. There have been accidents with injuries. Last weekend I was nearly hit.

Even avoiding "rush hour" hasn't been the elixir I hoped it might be.

Patience, everybody.

Speaking of driving too fast, the carnage now routinely associated with the busy tourist season in Grand Teton National Park has begun. In the past 30 days, 1 wolf, 2 bison, and 9 elk have been struck by vehicles.

The lack of respect for wildlife is appalling.

Accidents can happen. True. But when someone is blasting through the park well over the speed limit and strikes an animal, that's no accident. It's willful negligence.