Horsetails. They grow in wet areas. High silica content makes them excellent pot scrubbers for camping.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum

Box turtle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_turtle

I don't know the name, but I remember having great fun with them as a child. They come apart in segments, along the black lines.

There was a WWII internment camp in Amache, CO - close to Lamar, where we lived for ten years. I used to bicycle past fairly often. There was a small sign, and only the footers of the buildings. I was told by locals that the building materials were carted off by locals. I want to say that it was added they were encouraged to tear down the buildings, but that might be a false memory. At any rate, there was little sign of the camp when we lived there. It is now a National Historic Site.

For once, this is not an invasive or escaped cultivated species!

Virginia iris is native here.

https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/blueflag.htm

A Hampton Inn? Really splurging with my inheritance now!

In my experience, you will find a lot of turtle carcasses near streams. This one is a fairly young box turtle. Counting rings on the back scales, it looks like maybe 6 years old or so.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_turtle

In my experience, you will find a lot of turtle carcasses near streams. This one is a fairly young box turtle. Counting rings on the back scales, it looks like maybe 6 years old or so.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_turtle

Yup, tiger swallowtails are hard to get! Nice job!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_glaucus

Looks to me like both are the same, based on flower shape and leaves. According to one reliable website there are 6 species of fleabane in the area, and 3 are easily not these. The color can range from pure white to light purple.

Philadelphia Fleabane would be my guess.

https://www.missouriplants.com/Erigeron_philadelphicus_page.html

Strange name for a village...

Siblings?

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Other travelers...

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