One of the things I love about working in the field of natural resources is that my team tries to hold our quarterly meetings at various parks around the state. This spring we decided to go down to Big Woods State Park (near Northfield, Minnesota). Most of us also ended up camping there and exploring the woods in our off-time.
All over the park, we found the forest floor peppered with bunches of these trout lilies in bloom. I had hoped to spot the very rare dwarf trout lilly, but it turned out I was a week too late ~ they had already bloomed and hidden themselves again.
Nonetheless, this tender beauty brightened my eye after an evening run through the woods with my friends Chris, Mike, and Shelly.