August 28, 2007: Cone Mountain, Linn County, OR: Marvin and I were saying farewell to spring. We drove to the parking lot at the base of Iron Mountain and took the Cone Mountain trail. It was a warm late summer day on the calendar but at this elevation spring starts late and runs into the summer days found at lower elevations.
Almost immediately we met two hikers but would meet no more. We had the trail to ourselves. They were kind enough to tell us about some unusual looking mushrooms they had seen and gave us enough location clues that we spotted them also.
Marvin managed to identify the species as Gomphus kauffmanii using the help of a friend.
There were still quite a number of flowers in bloom and the day was interesting.
byLarry
