Posted on 09/22/2006 5:44:27 AM PDT by ajolympian2004
Two days ago I made the drive along Peak to Peak Hwy (Colorado state Hwy 72) from Boulder Country, into Larimer County, to Rocky Mountain National park and back home. Here are some of the photos from the high country, or as I know it 'my backyard'.
This is from Peak to Peak Hwy near Allenspark in Boulder County. The 'highest peak' from this perspective is 13,900+ ft. Mt Meeker and just to the left 14,000+ ft. Longs Peak.
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Getting closer.
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More Apsens in full 'bloom'.
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Hillside from the Wild Basin recreation area just inside Rocky Mountain National Park. (Far southeast corner of the park, Boulder County)
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Looking west to 13,000+ ft. Mt. Ouzel and the Continental Divide in Wild Basin. Five spectacular hiking trails are in this valley, three of them ending at high mountain glacial lakes from where you look straight up at the mountain ridges and peaks that make up the Divide.
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A closer shot of Mt. Ouzel.
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Mt. Meeker to the left and Longs Peak in the center, Larimer County.
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Mt. Meeker and Longs Peak from the 'offical' roadside viewing area. You can see that snow deposit on the saddle between both peaks. Back in late August of this year a climber fell over 800 ft. from that point while trying to traverse that ridge between Meeker & Longs and he lived to tell about it, with only minor injuries to boot.
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Farther down the road at the Twin Sisters parking area, Mt. Meeker and Longs Peak.
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From just inside the Beaver Meadows entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park after the snow had begun to fall over 12,000 ft., Longs Peak in the center.
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It's amazing to have all of this Wild America in your own 'backyard'.
Changing of the Aspens in Colorado from last weekend's trip - Poudre Canyon / Hwy 14
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1705725/posts
September Snow! 1st 'winter' training run of the season in Boulder County (pictures)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1697433/posts
Ping
Beautiful!
Thanks for sharing your pictures. In August my family and I made our first trip to Colorado. We are all in love with it.
So pretty.
Not ready for the the great white to hit yet! Beautiful in the high country!
Our first major widespread high country snow storm of the year is blowing into Colorado this evening. They are expecting over a foot of snow in many locations (ski areas) with winds around 50 mph that will create blizzard conditions. Even snow flurries are predicted for Denver on Saturday morning.
Wow! Just wow! My favorite this time is #7, but still keeping my Poudre wallpaper. Wow! Thank you again!
I got back from a long trip to the Canadian Rockies last week, and the aspens were just starting to turn in the foothills east of Jasper in early September. Autumn in the Alberta foothills is truly a magnificent time of year.
Yeah, I like that photo as well.
This morning after work I decided to take a 'long cut' back home to Boulder from Ft. Collins. I drove up Hwy 34 west to Estes Park from Loveland then on the Peak to Peak Hwy back to Ward, CO and down Lefthand Canyon to Lee Hill Rd. and up to Boulder Heights (about 7 miles NW of downtown Boulder). What was amazing is the number of pictures I missed. And with 6 to 8 inches of newly fallen snow on all the peaks over 12,000 ft. all the pictures in post number one of this thread would look almost completely different. Oh well, like the weather the scenery is constantly changing here and there is only so much time in a day / week to take pictures.
You have a beautiful backyard!
Oh, I love seeing the fall colors more than snow, lol.
When I was a kid, I had a bunch of friends who went to camp in Ward, at Gold Lake Ranch, and I begged my folks to let me go there, too, for two summers - but it was a no-go. I've heard that it had become in recent years the Hell's Angels hdqrs in CO, but that may have changed since then.
Lefthand Canyon is where a little girl was found murdered many years before JonBenet Ramsey. She had lived not far from the Ramseys' house, a long time before they moved to Boulder, but of course, cops had tried to see if there was a tie-in. Always tickles me to see the street name "Lee Hill Rd" because of an attorney there named Lee Hill.
Estes Park is so pretty, any season of the year, I think. A mighty fine backyard you have there! Have fun seeing the sights - and be careful after the snow.
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