Wildflowers and rain showers in the Inner Basin

Rain has become a daily occurrence across northern Arizona as the North American Monsoon is now in full swing. The most visual result of this, of course, is the abundance of wildflowers.

We were pleased with the wildflowers that we encountered on a recent mountain bike ride that started from Lockett Meadows and followed both the Inner Basin Trail and the Waterline Road. At the upper end of the Waterline Road is Abineau Canyon and we saw these flowers and many others.

Potentilla hippiana
Potentilla hippiana
Penstomen with a visitor
Penstomen
Fireweed in early bloom
Fireweed in early bloom

On the fast downhill descent on the Waterline Road we stopped to photograph these.

Yellow Columbine
Yellow Columbine
Lupine
Lupine

Storm clouds began to gather and we made haste getting back to the car. Enduring a thunderstorm on a bike at these elevations is undesirable. We made it back to out starting point before the rain started — but not by much.

Lockett Meadow
Lockett Meadow

As we drove out of Lockett Meadows I could not resist a photo of this view. This tank has been photographed by many but usually on clear days with aspen in fall colors. There are fewer images of a light rain shower with clouds over the peaks and tiny splashes in the tank from the rain drops.