Sneffels Creek, Yankee Boy Basin, San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Photograph of Yankee Boy Basin in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. This high alpine valley comes alive with wildflowers during the months of July and August. Typically, by this point in the summer, the monsoon rains have moved in and afternoon thunderstorms soak the fields of wildflowers here along Sneffels Creek almost every day. With its purple petals, Colorados state flower, the Colorado Columbine, competes for space with a profusion of plants along this rushing creek as the pointed 14,150 summit of Mount Sneffels (left) rises above the clouds. This 4,000 square-mile mountain range began to rise at the beginning of the Laramide Orogeny about 60 million years ago. With 13 summits over 14,000 feet, the San Juan Mountains are Colorado’s most extensive range.