ALPENROSEN AND A WORLD IN BLOOM

Lots of rain this year, so the flowers are spectacular.  We set off on a mission to track down some alpenrosen (rhododendron ferrugineum, the ancestor of many modern garden hybrids). Normally they bloom in June and are finished by mid-July, but there are still large stands in the woods and out among the rocks on the trail from Riffelalp to Grunsee. 

We even found stands of alpenrose sheltering among the rocks on the arid trail up to Flualp restaurant on the Findelgletscher (a road leads to a tiny brown speck of a building at the lower left in the glacier description; that's the restaurant/hotel shown on the ridge in the photo below -- such an infinitely small part of the landscape!).  

And, on the walk over from Blauherd, colorful patches of pale blue gentian mixed with lemon yellow succulents.

Along with several out-of-season pasque flowers drinking in the July sunshine. 

And, yes, the edelweiss are starting to appear along the trail, but that's a story for another day's mountain mosey....