Seasons are a-changing

The effects of Hurricane Irene were felt way out here by some of the guests. Several people told me, "We were on the last flight out of JFK airport, or out of Washington DC, or . . . . I offered our office phone and extra chairs to families stranded in the park. Flights back home had been cancelled and their reservations had run out. Travelers were "on hold" for up to 1 1/2 hours trying to re-schedule their flights.
Monday afternoon I did a short hike to Grand View Point, walking through a lovely Aspen-Fir forest. Hillsides were golden in the late afternoon sun. It made a pretty scene with the craggy mountains behind in filtered light from the approaching thunderhead clouds. Leaves of the Arrowhead have dried and are rattling in the wind. Willows and bushes are turning yellow. Only the late summer flowers, the Asters and Goldenrods, are still blooming. Fields where the Bison are grazing have become brown and dusty green. I saw a Pronghorn Antelope running along the edge of the Bison herd, nearly invisible in the brown grasses.
The early mornings are cooler now. I took Dolphin-kayak out to String Lake where there are a few birds left. Pink-sided Juncos and Red-breasted Nuthatches are calling from the trees. I watched a Warbling Vireo feed a begging juvenile sitting on a branch. There is not much time for the second brood to grow up and get ready for migration.
........Photos of Coralroot with the fruiting bodies, and the view to the east from Grand View Point. The mountains in the national forest are more rounded.