A Look at Mount Elden

This first contribution is for my family. I want everyone to see how great the Flagstaff area is. I tried emailing you all pictures, but my email account couldn't handle sending the images due to lack of disc space. These pictures were taken on Mount Elden, one of the warmer and desert-like areas in the Flagstaff area. Sometime when I again go hiking along the San Francisco Peaks I'll take some pictures so you'll see that Flagstaff isn't much of a desert at all; it's pine and aspen forests and the mountains are filled with wildflowers. There are even swards of bracken fern--reminds me of home. So don't let these pictures fool you into thinking that all of Flagstaff is this dry.

The trees in these pictures are mostly Ponderosa Pine, Alligator Juniper, and Gambel Oak. The last two pictures are upclose looks at the flower (notice all of the beetles) and seed head of the Apache Plume shrub.