IMG_3503A small pop of blue poked out from among the brown duff on the ground.  I walked over to investigate further.  Yep, there it was the first wildflower of our Rocky Mountain spring.  The Western Pasqueflower had poked its way up through the pine needles and dead wood to bravely announce its presence — spring was here.  As I walked along with the dogs through the woods, I started to notice more of them, their fuzzy leaves clinging to the ground, their delicate blue-purple petals with the yellow center providing color to this otherwise post-winter world.

Western Pasqueflower is the first glimpse that warmer days are coming after a long and snowy Rocky Mountain winter.  Think of them as the Crocus of the wilderness world.  They even resemble crocus with their soft blue petals just barely opening as they cling to the ground, thus protecting them from the winds the blow through the trees.

Though they are the first, other plants are not far behind.  The currant and gooseberry bushes that cluster underneath the pine and fir trees, are budding, their tiny leaves unfurling from their branches.  However, the aspen trees are still remaining in their dormant stage, not yet trusting that the last freeze is behind us.

The plants are not the only harbingers of spring and summer.  I’m reminded of the snows up high that are melting just a bit more each and every day as I wind up Boulder Canyon, glimpsing the rushing water cascading down.  I walk the dogs down to its subsidiary of North Boulder Creek, gauging where we are in terms of snowmelt, by my favorite boulder that pokes out in the stream.  When we reach the peak, the Boulder is completely submerged by the rushing waters.  Late in the summer, the creek will have slowed to a trickle that I can wade across.  But now, the water rushes with a vengeance, slamming into rocks, gushing over the tops of logs.  We have a long way to go until all that snow melts from the snow capped mountains of the Indian Peaks.

Life is beginning for the wildlife as well, soon new baby elk calves and moose calves will appear, as the cows give birth.  The babies will make their way on wobbly legs, being sure to remain close to the herd of cows who will tend them until they become big and strong.  Female elk help raise their new calves together, each rotating as the nanny, taking care of the new calves, while mothers feed themselves.

Still, seeing the Pasqueflower gives me the renewed sense of hope that spring brings.  The promise of something new, life beginning once again as the plants poke themselves out of the hard, barren ground.  If they can be brave to thrust themselves out of the ground in this act of defiance, hoping for warm, sunny, days, I too can force myself out to run, hike and enjoy these days of spring.

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