After Inkwell Lake there was some more above treeline rock scrambling. Two of us headed over towards Doughnut Lake, which is in a separate drainage from the other until below Arrowhead Lake. We found a great spot which overlooked both Doughnut Lake and Arrowhead Lake. We could also see Love Lake, which is about 200 feet above Arrowhead.
After using a few climbing moves to get down, we regrouped near the shore of Arrowhead Lake. We went...
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Rocky Mountain National Park has a road called the Trail Ridge Road, which goes above treeline for several miles. At its Forest Canyon Overlook, you can see several lakes in a side canyon. Many people stop and stare at them, but they get few visitors, since there is no trail to them. I have seen these lakes many times and have been wanting to get over there to walk around them. I finally got my chance last weekend. We started at Milner Pass, hiked up Mt. Ida, down along the Forest Lakes, acro...
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This trail starts from the Rainbow Lakes campground, crosses into the Indian Peaks Wilderness and quickly climbs above treeline. The trail goes along the border of a restricted area where part of Boulder's water supply comes from.
The trail continues to climb until about 12,600 feet where it levels out. After about a mile and a half of going along this ridge, I came around a corner and saw South Arapaho Peak.
I had seen it from...
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Last weekend went hiking around Long Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. My main camera was having problems, so I had my old camera with me and the pics are not as sharp as usual. After about a half mile I was really wishing for my other camera. The wild flowers along the trail were great. It was an amazing display of colors.
There was also a bull moose not far off the...
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Chasm Lake sits at the base of the face of Longs Peak and is one of the most scenic lakes in the park. The lake is at 11,800 ft (just above treeline) and Longs Peak at 14,255 towers above it. We started from the Longs Peak trailhead on the east side of the park. The trail starts out climbing through a pine forest. Once it crosses the treeline the views get amazing. This first picture is of Longs Peak with Mt. Lady Washington just in front of it on the right side.
Once cr...
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Last Tuesday night and Wednesday morning we got about 4 inches of snow. This time of year, the snow down here is a lot wetter than usual and sticks to things. This picture is of a bike path bridge over Foothills Parkway. The bridge is covered with a fence and this day the snow made it feel like a covered bridge.
Last week I was lucky enough to go to Powderhorn, the day after the skies opened up and dumped 10 inches of white fluffy stuff. It was great boarding, especially in the trees where it was deep enough to be sweet powder, but not so deep that it was hard to get going after falling. Here's the view from one of the lifts.
Powderhorn is not on a mountain like most ski resorts, it's on the side of a big mesa.
I am a tree hugger when I snow...
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In western Colorado near Grand Junction there's a big chunk of land rising above the desert. Grand Mesa National Forest rises several thousand feet about the Grand Valley and is covered with pine forests, alpine lakes and trails. The forest has the Crags Crest National Scenic Trail, which is a 10 mile loop, by alpine lakes, through meadows and across a rocky ridge. It goes over a ridge call Crags Cr...
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On my way out to Grand Junction last August I stopped by Rifle Falls State Park. About a 20 minute drive from the interstate. It is a small park with a few trails, a campground and of course a triple waterfall.
The trails go to the base of the falls, across the top of them and even behind one of them.
The most popular and scenic hike here is a lollipop loop with the loop part starting at the base of the falls, going up and across the top and back do...
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Mt. Sneffels is third highest mountain in the San Juans, 14,150 ft. The hike up it is short, but steep and fun. The drive from Ouray to the trailhead was very scenic and part of it is a shelf road with amazing views.
We parked at the main trailhead and hiked up th...
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We had pulled into camp after dark, so we didn't realize the view that our campsite had. When we got up the next morning, this is the view that awaited us.
This was our rest day, so we just did stuff around Ouray. We went to the Box Canyon Falls. Unfortunately, I was not able to get any good pictures because of how close the canyon walls are around it. You'll just have to go and check it out for yourself. It is only $3 to get into the city ...
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(This is the first of several trip reports from my San Juans trip in September.)
We started at the Silver Creek Trailhead for the climb up Sunshine and Redcloud Peaks. The first part of the trail followed Silver Creek up through a scenic valley.
Trail Going Along Silver Creek
We turned off the Silver Creek Trail and headed up a unmarked trail towards Sunshine Peak. The trail was a gradual climb through tree line and to the end of...
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