The Way I See It . . .: 2013

June 10, 2013: Our last day in Colorado! The time went way too fast! But there is still lots to see and do today. We got up early to return to Maroon Bells to get photos in the morning light. I'm so glad we did, because it looks very different this morning.

The first thing we saw when we arrived
was a group of deer in the picnic area.

Then on to the Bells...

More "shimmer of color" than reflections...

Shimmers grow into reflections...

Shimmery reflection! (taken with my iPhone!)

Other angles

Photographers

One last look

But still more fun before we leave...
on the way back to the car, we saw a Marmot!

And one last photo surprise:
on our way back to the hotel - a hang glider!

Then we returned to our hotel to pack and check out. We then did some exploring in the town of Aspen. We saw enough to realize what an expensive, rather snobby, town it is - not for us, for sure!

On our way back to Denver, we took the road to Independence Pass (elevation 12,095'). It's the second highest paved road pass in Colorado and the highest paved crossing of the Continental Divide. At these elevations, we saw a lot of snow!

Hairpin turns on the drive up to the summit of the Pass!

Wonderful billowy clouds in a perfect blue sky, over Colorado's tallest mountains!

The summit!

We walked to a scenic overlook that allows visitors to take in the alpine tundra environment above treeline (the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing), and offers excellent views to the east of Mount Elbert, Colorado's highest peak and the second-highest mountain in the contiguous United States.

Mount Elbert in the distance!

Walking back to the car from the overlook:

On the road again, heading east, then north to I-90 and Denver, where we will stop and hang out with Ellen and her family for a while, while awaiting our 1:00AM flight home. On our way, we passed through Leadville, Frisco and took a quick detour to Breckenridge.

Part of the time we followed one of the ubiquitous Colorado Mountain Bikers...we followed him for quite a distance, as the road was too narrow and curvy to pass.

Town of Frisco

Breckenridge

I-70

Eisenhower Tunnel

After spending a few hours with Ellen, we dropped off our rental Suburu SUV and headed to the airport. I hate this late flight, and losing a night's sleep. But it does give us a full last day here.

End of Day 9, and the end of a FANTASTIC Colorado vacation!

* * * * *

June 9, 2013: After a good night's sleep, we're up early again. Our itinerary today includes exploring Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, doing a scenic drive thru Crested Butte and Snowmass, then on to Maroon Bells, and finally to Aspen, where we will spend the night.

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a wonderful place; a place I never knew existed until I started planning this trip! It contains some of the most rugged landscape we've seen thus far, and includes some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock and craggiest spires in North America. It is so named because the steepness of the cliffs makes it difficult for sunlight to penetrate very far down, so the rocky canyon walls are most often in shadow, causing them to appear black. At its narrowest point, the canyon is only 40 feet across at the river. The extreme steepness and depth of the Black Canyon formed as the result of several geologic processes. The Gunnison River, along with the forces of weathering, has sculpted this vertical wilderness over the past two million years, forming the canyon as it is seen today.

Here is the way we saw it, through photos:

Mountain Lupine is abundant everywhere!

Bob looking down from an overlook.

Mother Nature's artwork

Bob as part of Mother Nature's artwork :)

Looking down at the Gunnison River

Bob & Suzi Shadows

Stopping to smell (and photograph) the flowers

More Mountain Lupine

Along the hiking trail

Windswept landscape, from two different angles:

One more view of the canyonlands before leaving the park!

After leaving Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, we traveled east to the town of Gunnison, through Curecanti National Recreation Area, a man-made oasis in the high desert, formed by three reservoirs named for corresponding dams on the Gunnison River.

As we were driving along the side of the above reservoir, we spotted a couple of emergency vehicles ahead, lights flashing, and a dozen or so vehicles pulled off along side of the road.
An accident? As we got closer I thought I saw a statue (albeit a very realistic statue) of a very large Bighorn Sheep on the shoulder of the highway, but as we passed we realized it was real. The emergency vehicles belonged to Park Rangers, warning traffic to slow down and take care in passing.

After we passed, we turned into a pullout and joined the crowd of tourists watching and photographing the scene.

We then realized there was a second Bighorn Sheep on the steep mountainside, just beyond the highway barrier. At first we thought it was a male-female pair that got separated somehow by the highway, but then learned from the rangers that it was two RAMS who had been fighting over the "territory" all morning and kept crossing the highway.

Both Bob and I got many good shots before the ram on our side of the barrier finally leaped over it and climbed the mountainside in pursuit of the other male on the other side of the highway.

The ram on our side of the highway is getting ready to jump the barrier!

LEAP (missed shot!) . . . and there he goes...!!

Notice the broken tip of the ram's horn,

in this shot by Bob

(cropped, edited and enlarged by Suz)

But apparently this was just a lull in the drama - the rangers were not convinced it was over yet - but we still had many miles to drive, so we continued on with our journey. But it was an exciting and never-before-seen, [best-kind-of] interruption in our travels.

A collage of the drama

Back on the highway, we passed through the town of Gunnison, stopped and bought some picnic food, with the intention of finding a place to stop and eat along the road, and then headed north. We never did find the right spot to picnic before arriving in Crested Butte. I was immediately hooked by the town; it turned out to be just the kind of small, friendly, bohemian town that I love, and I wanted to spend some time here, so we decided to eat at an outside cafe instead. The food we bought can wait until later tonight or tomorrow.

On the road to Crested Butte

The ubiquitous Colorado biker!

We had some good food to eat, and some food for thought! We talked to some very nice, friendly locals who mentioned some things (like seasonal rentals) that helped us formulate the great idea that perhaps we really could do a reverse "snowbird" thing after retirement, by keeping a permanent residence near NYC, and spending summers in Colorado. It would give us the best of both worlds and help solve many of our issues about moving so far away from family and friends. Definitely something to research and think about over the coming months!!

More magnificent landscapes on the road to Aspen & Maroon Bells

More aspen in their spring green...!

We saw this wild turkey in a stand of aspen

And this little waterfall off the side of the road

And we saw a BEAR! It seemed to be a young cub, and it ran right across the road. It may have been following it's mother, who we just missed! I wasn't fast enough to get a photo, but I have this bear sign from earlier in the day to stand in it's place!

We saw the bear right here (below)!

I didn't get a photo of the bear, but I got the spot!

On the road to Maroon Bells.

The Maroon Bells are two peaks in the Elk Mountains Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak, separated by about a third of a mile, and located in the Maroon Bells - Snowmass Wilderness of the White River National Forest, 12 miles southwest of Aspen. Both peaks are "fourteeners" at 14,156 feet and 14,014 feet respectively. Unlike other mountains in the Rockies that are composed of granite and limestone, the Bells are composed of metamorphic sedimentary mudstone that has hardened into rock over millions of years. Mudstone is weak and fractures readily, giving rise to dangerously loose rock along almost any route. The mudstone is responsible for the Bells' distinctive maroon color.

The view of the Maroon Bells to the southwest from the Maroon Creek valley, especially when reflected in Maroon Lake, is one of the most famous scenes in Colorado, and is reputed to be the "most-photographed spot in Colorado" and one of Colorado's premier scenic overlooks. Although this will be just one of so many wondrous sights we've seen, I am still excited to be seeing them, for the photographic opportunity!

First glimpse of the Bells!