Wildflower Report - Yankee Boy Basin - July 19

[Doug Beezley]

A trip to the San Juan's without visiting Yankee Boy Basin would make any visit incomplete inspite of the obvious drawbacks of Yankee Boy, i.e, too many visitors, too much traffic, dusty roads, etc.

On our visit we found much the same conditions as in the other basins we visited - the flowers were in peak conditions with especially nice displays of columbines, Indian paintbrush, hare bells, delpheniums, sneezeweed, and cow parsnip. There are many other species present - those are just the most prominent ones. The decreased snowmelt is apparent inasmuch as the right hand side of Twin Falls is carrying substantially less water than the other side. If you go to Yankee Boy, go early and plan to be there by 5 to 5:30 am - before the sun comes over the top. Once the sun appears around 8 - 8:15 am, the lighting conditions become so bright and contrasty that it essentially ends the shooting until evening.

Most visitors are limited to lower and mid Yankee Boy and don't continue on the the upper basin and the Blue Lakes Trailhead because of the road. Continuing on to the Blue Lakes Trailhead will yield big rewards and you'll likely be all alone. But remember - don't try this unless your equipment is up to it - good way to have to buy that new vehicle. Jeeps, 4-Runners and Pathfinders with the appropriate suspension can handle this.

The bottom line is you go to Yankee Boy to pay your respects because it is Yankee Boy and it is so close to Ouray. But, any number of other basins have wildflowers that at as good - they just aren't as easy to get to. And, a word of warning about the bathroom near the upper falls. It needs to be burned and buried. Enough said.