Gorgeous day! 70°F partly cloudy. Big Bonita Trail, altitude 9,000 feet 
I’m in Ruidoso, New Mexico! It is the rainy season here (monsoon season) and everything is alive and blooming. I love this time of year in the Lincoln National Forest. Plus, NO TICKS!! I’m going to be out there as much as possible, so I’m going to skimp on plant ID and such. I’ll be throwing a bunch of photos your way so get ready.
The trail I chose today is the Big Bonita Trail. I love it because there is a running creek, pine forests, meadows, old mines – pretty much has it all.
Wildflowers – this is a Cinquefoil
a bunch of them ; )
Big ole polypore. I want to look up what the drops are, but I’ll have to come back to it. I can see some pores and tube like structures underneath.
Lots of these around, Pholiota squarrosoides
A closer look at the scales
Here is another family member.
This little beauty is my first sighting of a cauliflower mushroom in the Sparassis family! I almost walked right by it.
Gorgeous. It really looks like it could be undersea.
A little garlic/onion family bloom.
Tons of these everywhere! tall and big.
The most common pollinators I saw today were in the fly family.
Spikey!
These types of Tachinid flies were all over.
This coral fungus was growing on the same fallen tree as last year. My index finger is in this photo for size reference.
A grouping of small gilled mushrooms.
Wildflowers
Mallow
A monarda.
Firecracker!
Monarda.
Tiny, violet family.
Pea family
Lichen.
This lichen looked like it was blooming. I will definitely look this one up, so interesting.
Pretty little gilled mushroom
I thought the pattern caused by the growth of this mushroom was pretty.
Polypore. This was fuzzy and hairy looking. The edges were surprisingly soft and almost glowed.
Such a beauty.
Such a common looking gilled mushroom, but the funnel on top caught my eye, the fringed edges are nice too.
The underside of the above funneled mushroom.
This group was crammed in the crack of a massive tree. Looks like oyster mushroom, but I’d have to look it up.
This bolete has a yellow underside and the top stains red when bruised. Perfect example.
Top, notice the spots of bruising that are reddish in color.
The underside showing the tubes.
A little sedum!
A smaller version of the large polypore shown earlier.
Oyster?
FERNS!
last but not least, some witches butter
Such a beautiful hike along the creek.
I apologize for blazing through everything. I’m happily worn out and need some sleep!
I especially enjoyed the large number of wildflowers, but the fungi is so interesting. You’re great!
Thank you so much. Love your pics & comments!
You are an amazing photographer!! Great pics.
It’s great to see that things seemed to have greened up since we were there on the 4th of July! The creeks seemed mostly dry then. Love the pics as usual.
I love your pictures of the flowers. I have to say that those are always my most favorite 🙂