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February 10, 2012
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Jun 1, 2010
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Life in the Tetons

Steershead, Gem of the Spring

Steershead, Gem of the Spring

Susan Lykes

‘Tis the season to find the beautiful and elusive wildflower, steershead.  Mayo and I were out on a hike over the weekend (between the showers!) and found them in a number of spots at about 7,000 feet.  It is one of my very favorite wildflowers, and each spring we set out on early-season hikes hoping to find new patches of the little flower that looks unmistakably like a steer’s skull.  I’ve heard old timers say that finding steersheads brings good luck.

According to A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers by John Craighead, Frank Craighead and Ray Davis, steershead is a member of the bleedingheart family.  They are tiny and difficult to see because of their size and because their delicate, light pink color blends in remarkably well with the loose dirt in which they grow.  That’s probably a good thing: they are poisonous to animals.  Steershead bloom in April and May in spots where the snow has just recently melted.  

Good luck finding this little gem of the spring!

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About This Blog

Michael McCoy

Editor Michael McCoy is a native Wyomingite who, through no choice of his own, moved to Iowa (“the third greatest state in the nation,” he says) when he was only a few weeks old. After high school graduation, he beelined it back to the University of Wyoming, where he earned a degree in Anthropology and the nickname of “Mac.” In addition to his Teton-area editorial duties, Mac works for the Missoula, Montana-based Adventure Cycling Association and writes freelance articles and books about the outdoors. “But that’s enough about me,” he says. “This blog is about you. I will prime the pump with an entry now and then--but ultimately, we hope it will be our readers, both locals and out-of-staters, who keep the streams of conversation flowing.”

 

 

 

Contributing blogger Susan Traylor Lykes was born and raised in the Denver area, a third-generation Coloradan. She spent much of her childhood in the mountains, and took up fly fishing at the tender age of ten, wielding her grandfather’s old bamboo rod and Pflueger reel. After graduating from the University of Vermont, Susan earned a master's degree in Town Planning from the University of Montana. For the past decade, she has focused on nonprofit land conservation and land use, serving on the boards of the Land Trust Alliance, the Teton Regional Land Trust, and the Orton Family Foundation.
Susan and her husband, Mayo, call both sides of the Tetons home. They are enthusiastic travelers and outdoorsmen — hiking, skiing, fly fishing, and bird hunting.

 

 

 

Contributing blogger Jeanne Anderson is a Cheyenne native and graduate of the University of Wyoming who has spent the last 25 years as a writer, PR consultant, columnist, and editor. Her passions include hiking, cooking reading, traveling, community, and creativity (she’s in her third term on the Idaho Commission on the Arts). She credits her broad practical streak to her parents, who started the first travel agency in the Cowboy State—from them she learned “every bathroom in the world is down the hall and to the left.” Jeanne and her husband Peter started Dark Horse Books in Driggs in 1995; their two-year experiment lasted 14 years. Now out from behind the bookstore counter, she’s looking forward to many new adventures.

 

 

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