{"id":15403,"date":"2014-07-15T04:39:08","date_gmt":"2014-07-15T10:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15403"},"modified":"2024-07-20T02:12:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-20T07:12:30","slug":"a-carpet-of-gold-in-soapstone-basin-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/15\/a-carpet-of-gold-in-soapstone-basin-utah\/","title":{"rendered":"Carpet of Gold in Soapstone Basin, Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s gold in them thar hills!\u00a0Not the nuggets of gold that prospectors work hard to find but\u00a0a carpet of golden Mule’s Ears covering some of the hills in Soapstone Basin, Utah.<\/p>\n

\"CarpetMule’s Ears -Soapstone Basin, Utah – Nikon D300, handheld, f14, 1\/80, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 18 mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There were other wildflowers blooming in the mountains yesterday but in the Soapstone Basin in the Uinta National Forest<\/a> it was the Mule’s Ears that stole the show.<\/p>\n

In the heat of summer Utahns and visitors to the state can escape the heat by heading to the mountains which is where I wandered yesterday. The Soapstone Basin is named after Soapstone Creek which flows through the basin and Soapstone Creek got its name for the soapy-feeling talc\u00a0that occurs\u00a0along the creek bed.<\/p>\n

It felt marvelous to be in the mountains yesterday and\u00a0to see\u00a0that Bald Mountain and a few other mountains\u00a0in the area still have some snow up high even in the middle of July especially\u00a0because temperatures in the Salt Lake valley climbed to over 100\u00b0 F.\u00a0\u00a0It was a scorcher yesterday in northern Utah and at one point I saw a temperature reading of 105\u00b0.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my flower, shrub and tree photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There were other wildflowers blooming in the mountains yesterday but in the Soapstone Basin it was the Mule’s Ears that stole the show. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2608,26,2607,5347],"tags":[10839,5060,5058,5062,4069,4300,2315,4307,5061,1214,5059,5063],"class_list":["post-15403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soapstone-basin","category-utah","category-wasatch-county","category-wildflowers","tag-basin","tag-carpet-of-gold","tag-gold","tag-mountain-mule-ear","tag-mountains","tag-mules-ears","tag-summer-3","tag-wildflowers","tag-wooly-mule-ear","tag-wyethia-amplexicaulis","tag-yellow-flowers","tag-yellow-wildflowers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/soapstone-basin-mules-ears-mia-mcpherson-3445.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-40r","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8665,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/22\/alaska-basin-journey-in-montana-and-idaho\/","url_meta":{"origin":15403,"position":0},"title":"Alaska Basin Journey In Montana And Idaho","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this week I was enthralled to see the Alaska Basin that straddles Idaho and Montana and winds through Beaverhead National Forest and Targhee National Forest.","rel":"","context":"In "Alaska Basin"","block_context":{"text":"Alaska Basin","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/alaska-basin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Big sky, wildflowers and firs in the Alaska Basin, Beaverhead National Forest, Beaverhead County, Montana or Targhee National Forest, Fremont County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/alaska-basin-wildflowers-montana-mia-mcpherson-5599.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/alaska-basin-wildflowers-montana-mia-mcpherson-5599.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/alaska-basin-wildflowers-montana-mia-mcpherson-5599.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/alaska-basin-wildflowers-montana-mia-mcpherson-5599.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":72945,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/21\/common-sunflower-great-basin-bumble-bee-and-long-horned-bee-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":15403,"position":1},"title":"Common Sunflower, Great Basin Bumble Bee And Long-horned Bee At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"When I photographed this Common Sunflower I noticed the Great Basin Bumble Bee right away then I saw the other bee and what appears to be two midges on the upper left quadrant of the flower petals.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Sunflower, Great Basin Bumble Bee and Long-horned Bee, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5563.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5563.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5563.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5563.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":102522,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/20\/world-bee-day-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":15403,"position":2},"title":"World Bee Day 2022","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"May 20th is World Bee Day and I am sharing a photo of two native bees this morning. The Great Basin Bumble Bee and the Long-horned Bee. Native bees are important pollinators.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Basin Bumble Bee and Long-horned Bee on a Common Sunflower, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5561.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5561.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5561.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5561.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":103085,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/06\/08\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-an-aspen\/","url_meta":{"origin":15403,"position":3},"title":"Tree Swallow Nesting In An Aspen","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While up high in the Uinta Mountains yesterday morning I photographed this female Tree Swallow checking out a nesting cavity in a Quaking Aspen.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tree Swallow portrait at aspen nest, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-aspen-mia-mcpherson-6699.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-aspen-mia-mcpherson-6699.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-aspen-mia-mcpherson-6699.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-aspen-mia-mcpherson-6699.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":114330,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/07\/13\/blooming-monument-plant-in-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":15403,"position":4},"title":"Blooming Monument Plant In Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I am showcasing two blooming Monument Plant photos. I took these images yesterday in Summit County, high in the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Monument Plants"","block_context":{"text":"Monument Plants","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/trees-shrubs-and-flowers\/wildflowers\/monument-plants\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Monument Plant in bloom, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/monument-plant-blooming-mia-mcpherson-6343.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/monument-plant-blooming-mia-mcpherson-6343.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/monument-plant-blooming-mia-mcpherson-6343.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/monument-plant-blooming-mia-mcpherson-6343.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52207,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/05\/22\/blooming-desert-globemallows-orange-wildflowers-that-brighten-the-desert\/","url_meta":{"origin":15403,"position":5},"title":"Blooming Desert Globemallows – Orange Wildflowers That Brighten the Desert","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The wildflowers I photographed are Desert Globemallows (Sphaeralcea ambigua) and they were blooming abundantly on the road to the jetty, I don't think I have seen so many of them in full bloom before.","rel":"","context":"In "Box Elder County"","block_context":{"text":"Box Elder County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/box-elder-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Desert Globemallows in full bloom, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/desert-globemallow-blossoms-mia-mcpherson-1585.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/desert-globemallow-blossoms-mia-mcpherson-1585.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/desert-globemallow-blossoms-mia-mcpherson-1585.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/desert-globemallow-blossoms-mia-mcpherson-1585.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}