God’s Garden

Posted on May 16, 2018 by Laura Lindblom under Photography, wildflowers

Wildflower hunting was one of the stated intentions of this hike. Nevertheless, I was overwhelmed by the number of little gems that we saw and had never expected to see this many. It seemed as if my whole field guide was spread out and blooming. Flowers I’d never seen before, except in my field guide, were in full bloom, and others that I did know grew in quantities I’d never seen! It was truly stunning. There was absolutely no shortage of wildflowers in the burn area of the Legion Lake Fire. Rather, they were particularly abundant and spectacular. Prickly pear and barrel cacti were also quite abundant, which was some cause for concern: I’ve been accused of “crawling around on the ground” to take pictures of wildflowers. But one encounter with spines today was enough to make me much more cautious, so after that I was careful to look before kneeling down.

White crazyweed – Oxytropis sericea

Tufted milkvetch – Astragalus spatulatus

Desert biscuitroot – Lomatium foeniculaceum

Narrowleaf gromwell – Lithospermum incisum

Meadow deathcamas – Zigadenum venenosus

Missouri pincushion – Coryphantha missouriensis

Low larkspur – Delphinium bicolor

Darkthroat shootingstar – Dodecatheon pulchellum

Hood’s phlox – Phlox hoodii

Downy paintbrush – Castilleja sessiliflora

Prairie smoke – Geum triflorum

Small-leaf pussytoes – Antennaria parvifolia

Mountain blue-eyed grass – Sisyrinchium montanum

Western wallflower – Erysimum asperum

Nuttall’s violet – Viola nuttallii

Other flowers not shown here were the star lily, leafy phlox, prairie golden pea, various milkvetches and legumes, including the groundplum milkvetch (a favorite of mine, with an edible bean), yellow salsify, and a number of others. A beautiful afternoon to stroll in God’s Garden.

Wind Cave Landscape

Posted on May 16, 2018 by Laura Lindblom under Photography

Driving both our parks, Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park, it is hard to believe now the devastation brought upon them by Legion Lake Fire in December. Some places show the obvious scars, the scorched or torched trees, the scars from the cleanup logging operations, but other places have been left even more pristine than they were before. In grasslands, you just get used to the landscape always looking a little dull because of the clinging remnants of last year’s grasses, until the fleeting part of the summer when everything is at its prime and is almost too green. But this is so different, so clean.
The green was unbelievable. It hardly looked real. But it is.

Spring’s Scattered Gems

Posted on May 15, 2018 by Laura Lindblom under Photography

A hillside of tufted milkvetch, and Wind Cave National Park and its rolling hills cascading in the background.
The highlight photo from today’s hike in Wind Cave NP!

Fast Spring, Slow Spring

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Laura Lindblom under Photography, wildflowers

The last few months have been anything but monotonous. From finishing up my job at the clinic in Rapid (a bitter-sweet change), to getting hired on at Dakota Greens greenhouse and nursery in Custer (officially starting work there this afternoon!), to a whirlwind trip to see my sister in Illinois two weeks ago (more on that later – lots of good photos from that trip!), to taking a bunch of online classes and doing hands on training to join the local volunteer fire department (more on that later as well), to prepping my students for their spring piano recital, this has been anything but a slow spring. And then factor in the sweet normalcy of daily life: time spent with family, time spent with church family, hiking with friends, movie nights with sisters and friends, planning our garden, starting to plant…It has been a lovely spring. But I’m still grappling with the fact that it is already May. May 2018. Where does the time go?

Botanically, however, this spring has taken its sweet time. The wildflowers have not seem to come to grips with the calendar, at least not where I live. Part of that must be the fact that we’re at about 3500 feet above sea level. We also had a number of late snowstorms and lingering winter weather. So the wildflowers have been slow in coming around the family property. The foliage is present – one of my favorite ravines will be absolutely bursting with columbine before too long – but anything but pasque flowers have been reluctant to blossom. To my delight, though, a short hike with Trixie yesterday morning revealed a handful of treasures.
Pussytoes, lanceleaf bluebells, shooting star, and wild strawberry bloomed here and there, and I saw one or two stunted star lilies, and plenty of dandelions. They are the heralds. The rest will arrive shortly, turning our Hills into a thriving bouquet!

Shrouded Hills

Posted on May 9, 2018 by Laura Lindblom under Photography

Any time spent away from home leaves me hungry to search out my favorite places, as if to check on them, or remind myself that they are real, and are not just a product of my imagination. After a week in Illinois (I got back last week), I sought out what has become a favorite drive of mine, the Custer State Park Wildlife Loop. Now, it is far from a favorite of mine in the middle of the day, in the middle of the tourist season. But at dawn, before almost anyone else is up, it is heavenly, peaceful, serene, and gloriously empty, yet full, so full. This particular morning, my hope of capturing the sunrise was thwarted, but I was gifted instead the coziness of glowering clouds and drifting fog and shrouds of mist. In spite of the rain and wet, the meadowlarks were singing as loudly as ever, and the buffalo calves were frisky and ridiculous. The landscape was unbelievably green. It truly is incredible how beautiful the new grass looks when the dead brown grass has been burned away. With the mist and the rolling hills, the tops of which were obscured in fog, the landscape looked somewhat as I imagine Ireland must look. Occasionally, the sun would briefly break through and light would dance on the slopes, before being shrouded once again.It amazes me that anyone could look at such glorious beauty and not be struck to the heart by awe of our Creator. God’s glory is on full display in the wonders of His Creation. If my heart needs a revival, a walk in God’s woods or a drive through His prairielands and hills reminds me of the God I serve and love, and how good He truly is.

Hiking | Mount Baldy

Posted on April 22, 2018 by Laura Lindblom under hiking, Photography, Writing

Mount Baldy is behind Mount Rushmore. Old Baldy is near Spearfish. However, some maps have Mount Baldy labeled as Old Baldy. And the register box at the top of Mount Baldy says “Old Baldy.” Someone got their wires crossed, somewhere along the line. Anyway, it was a beautiful day for a hike, and to Mount Baldy we went. We had a group of thirteen, I think, trekking cheerily through the springing afternoon. The trails and sights in the Mount Rushmore area are truly stunning. The granite spires pierce from the ground towards the sky. Large boulders perch precariously on top of larger boulders, which is essentially what Mount Baldy is. A very, very large boulder pile.Moss and kinnikinnick provided lush ground cover, and stands of stately aspen caught the sunlight in their white branches. They, too, will be green soon. Cairns were stacked carefully at intervals along the less-visible part of the trail. They were few enough that not seeing them didn’t mean we weren’t on the right trail, but seeing them suggested that we were. I’m not going to attempt to provide any sense of direction for this hike, or what trails to take, other than to say that the trailhead is at the Wrinkled Rock climbing area, the segment of the trail we did was only about 3.5 or 4 miles round trip, and the right direction is up. If you can go higher, you’re not there yet. It is an exhilarating chore to get to the top. A fair amount of elevation gain is packed into a relatively short hike. The last 20 or so minutes to the top is nothing short of a rough scramble, finding foot and hand holds on steep rock faces, squirming up narrow and deep crevasses. I’ve never been much for scrambling. Perhaps I’ve taken too many falls on level ground, and had one too many close calls on the ladder up to our loft bedroom. Clumsiness creates some paranoia. But I have to say, it was great fun. And the views from the top were unbelievably beautiful.
We didn’t linger at the top, since a freezing gale was blowing up there and we’d left the warmth a few levels down. We admired the views, signed the register, snapped some pictures, and scrambled and slid back down the way we had come. The sun was just getting low when we got back to the trailhead. A great afternoon hike. The perfect hike to kick off the spring hiking season!