Sunshine and Flowers (for a while)
I have a big problem with beautiful days in the Alps.
Like a horse to the barn, I’d intended to race many kilometers and descend almost 3,000 vertical meters to a hotel in Campocologno, where I could finally bathe and would have a meal waiting (I’ve run out of food). I thought I could do it in about 12 hours of hiking, so I set my alarm for 4:30 in the morning.
Maybe so, but the weather was magnificent for most of the day. And as I hiked I saw that many of the wildflowers I’ve been enjoying were starting to fade in color. So far I’ve resisted taking many wildflower photos because I always thought I could do it later.
But yesterday I realized that seasons change and some of these flowers will go to seed and I’ll have missed my chance. And the sunshine was fabulous. So I took pictures. Lots and lots of pictures and movies. And time passed, and in the end it took me 15 hours to finally reach Campocologno.
The last several hours were in a big afternoon rainstorm, so more than 2,000 vertical meters of descent took place in soaking wet boots. This did not make my feet happy.
But here I am in the beautiful boutique Hotel Albergo Stazione, where dinner was superb and the bath even better.
Unfortunately, I don’t know the names of many of these flowers. I wonder if you might help out? On the Facebook page Swiss Borders it’s possible to leave comments, and I’d be delighted if wildflower lovers could supply me with names.
I do know a few of these flowers, but to save myself embarrassment from admitting just how few, I’ll pretend I don’t know any, even though one of these is my very favorite alpine flower (hint: it’s the deep blue one with a deep bell).
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