Denver hit an all time high temperature of 105o F (40.5o C) on Thursday. Fires rage throughout the West. Politics are just as heated.

I need a break from the heat.

Although I couldn’t get to the high country recently, I still have some good photographs from my trip up to tundra last month.

These little flowers peaking out from the big fleshy leaves are Claytonia megarhiza, Big rooted spring beauty. And they do indeed have thick roots that go down up to 6 feet!

I didn’t take the time to get a good picture of the leaves, so I couldn’t decide if this was alpine or dwarf clover. No matter. I love it’s perky flower poking above the soil.

The dramatic two-toned flowers make these alpine primroses easy to identify. Each alpine primrose plant produces just one flower a year. The boat-shaped leaves collect water during the dry alpine summers.

While I was taking photographs of flowers, an American pipit flew in to forage nearby. These birds nest on the tundra in the short summer, and retreat to the forests below in winter.

Maybe this month I’ll get back to the high country to cool off in person.