Thistles and Thistles

Yesterday, Christine and I hiked Sawmill Canyon, which is in the Huachuca Mountains. Access is through Garden Canyon on the US Military Base (Fort Huachuca). It would have been exciting to find a bear or a coatimundi, but we had to settle for thistles. "Settling" for thistles isn't quite as bad as it sounds. When in bloom, thistles are actually quite beautiful like these with a Cloudless Sulphur:

But, also we found a female Black Chin Hummingbird that liked the thistles too:

As well as this Pipevine Swallowtail:

This Giant Swallowtail:

This Anise Swallowtail:

And, finally these Cloudless and Southern Dogface Sulphurs:

So even though we didn't find any bears or coatimundi, we had a great hike and some very nice photos.