While I enjoy exploring new trails I like to have a set of favorites I visit repeatedly, both because I find comfort in the familiar and because it makes it easier for me to see change from day-to-day and season-to-season, never more so than when we are in a new area like we are now. The Marcus Landslide Trail has been a favorite since I discovered it late last year but this morning in May had a surprise in store as these gorgeous little creatures clung to seemingly every blooming brittlebush. I had never seen them before (or since) so I did a little research when I got home to learn these jewels are master blister beetles. It was still pretty early, the sun still hiding below the mountains, when I found these two clinging to the same spent flower in the middle of the brittlebush.
Boolie 