Utah - early flowers    4.13.13   On a Sierra Club-sponsored hike to Elephant Rock, an enormous light-gray erratic in the hills above Bountiful, UT, spring ephemerals are starting to open on the sunny, exposed side of the switchbacks.  Well-worn snow patches remained in more sheltered areas of the trail which rises from 4800 to 5900 feet.  Familiar Spring Beauties of a deep shade of pink; 3/4 inch  bell-shaped Yellow Fritillary (Yellowbells) flowers hanging from 5-inch stems; buds of Oregon Grape;  and Glacier Lilies with their pair of green leaves were welcome sights.   Yellowbells age from yellow to reddish-orange.   
          This trail is intersected by a great scar caused by the construction of a natural gas pipeline that transects Utah, carrying fuel to the southwest.  I was reminded of the proposal to put such a pipeline through Vermont.  Pictured, there is a 15-year-old pipeline at the right which was promised to be returned to its natural state, and the newer, wider pipeline which has been allowed in spite of the lack of evident follow-through with old promises.