The Barnes Lake Trails are horse-and-hiker trails in Barnhartvale.    We can hike between 5 and 10 km on the trails, choosing trails to match the season.    On a mid-October day we hiked a 6 km loop in the grasslands and open forest.   Rabbitbrush (ericameria nauseosa) was still flowering through the grasslands.

Most of the yarrow had stopped flowering, but in a sheltered spot we spotted this one.

Dalmatian toadflax is a noxious invasive, but the individual flowers resemble snapdragons.

Ponderosa pines that survived the pine beetle infestation grace the grasslands below the forest line.

A few late-season mustards were weedy-looking, but the individual flowers are impressive.

Some of the ponderosa pines that had been killed by the pine beetles were still standing, but will fall victim to winter winds over the next few years.

By this time we had two lightly-frosty nights, but not yet a killing frost.    Soon the flowers will be just frozen remnants alongside the trails.