Just before the onset of Covid-19, we were in the Phoenix area to hike and our last planned hike was up Siphon Draw to the Flatiron in the Superstition Mountains.    This was one of the best hikes in 2020.  In early March, wildflowers were abundant and the lower slopes were yellow with brittlebrush.

brittlebrush

Thistles grew in dry washes with brush-like pink  flowerheads.

thistle

Southwestern mock vervain (Glandularia gooddingii) is a perennial herb in the verbena family.  Lavender tubular terminal flowers stand about 30 cm tall.

southwestern mock vervain

Blackfoot daisy (melampodium leucanthum) is a perennial herb/subshrub which grows in the desert uplands.   The long-lived white flowers attract butterflies.

blackfoot daisy

The star of the day was rock gilia (gilia scopulorum) growing on a rocky slope.  

rock gilia

Tall weedy mustard plants (brassica tournefortii) were numerous, with bright yellow flowers.

wallflower

This was a difficult hike and it was good to get off the steep, rocky route down to the desert slopes among the brittlebrush flowers.

We returned back to Kamloops in time to see the first emerging sagebrush buttercups, but we were quarantined on return, but happy to be back away from vacation rentals, airports, and airplanes as the epidemic spread.

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