This campground is at 9100 ft. elevation
Views from Panorama Point
Long's Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park
Hiking the trails
Old Barn in Fraser Meadow
from Fraser Meadow
A sudden afternoon storm approaching from the West.
I was not prepared and got quite cold before finding a hooded sweatshirt abandoned along the trail and hanging in a tree.
You name it. Depending on the view, it looked like a rabbit or sea captain.
I named it Snowshoe Harry for the snowshoe hares seen in the area.
A Tuesday night snowstorm gave us four inches in camp.
The new snow added its own beauty, but made the hiking a bit more interesting.
As the day warmed in the afternoon, deep snow softened
and I doing was what's known as postholing - sinking in up to mid-thigh.
Dude's Fishing Hole on the way to Forgotten Valley.
The lake in Forgotten Valley.
The old cabin has been partially restored.
An old wooden axle with steel wheels
This is only about 25 miles from Wyoming, 25 miles north of Steamboat Springs
and midway across Colorado. This campground is at 8000 ft. elevation.
Some of the wildflowers around Steamboat Lake.
Those dandelions were huge! My compass is larger than a credit card.
Sand Mountain south of Steamboat Lake.
Sandhill Crane - hard to see and approach; but they are really loud.
The Hahn's Peak trailhead at Columbine, CO.
I hiked (almost) to the top twice, starting from two directions. The peak is 10,838 feet.
This one started at 8,500 feet and the other from the Park Visitor Center at 8,000 feet.
The next photos are all from the trail; with some just looking up toward the peak.
The village of Columbine, CO (just left of center) one hour and 1,000 feet up the trail.
Columbine with telephoto. My truck is the white speck in the "parking lot" next to the general store.
The trail was wet and partly snow coverered.
Lunchtime at 10,000 feet. I was trying to hold onto the snow while waiting for the camera timer.
Our camper is just visible here, if you know where it is -
the white dot at far right center, directly west (right) of the lake
and below the dark group of trees just left of the roadway. Got it?
This was as close as I got to the top. It really is that steep.
With only 350' to the top I thought I could scramble over the rocks.
My GPS put me at 10,599 ft. but had only gained 100' in elevation over 150' of travel
when I thought more of the risk of sliding down 2,000 feet than the reward of reaching the top.
Of course I kept going, looking for a better route to the top.
But he had a locked gate across the trail just 200 yards farther on, so I stopped there.
The snow here (on the trail, of course) was somewhere between 8-12 feet deep in the deepest part.
Another foolish move?
The trail hit a dead end at an old mine. Rather than backtrack uphill
and around I decided to go straight down to what looked like another trail.
It's hard to judge, but it didn't LOOK 500 feet lower.
I could have used my rain poncho and slid all the way down.
Looking back up the way I had come from 500 feet lower elevation.
The trail ended just below the large patch of snow.
When I got to the trail (actually a jeep road) there were signs posting it as private property.
I met one of the owners farther down the trail. She was on a four wheeler ATV and
when I asked about the teepee, said it was one of their mining claim.
This campground is at 9300 ft. elevation and just 5 miles west of the pass at 11,300.
Moose cow with her calves at about 30 hours old.
This was not shot with telephoto. She was only 30-50 feet above the trail.
The cow was so large, the calves couldn't reach the food supply when she was standing.
By the next day she had moved them another 50 yards into the woods.
Elk at dusk
The next several shots I was just experimenting with the evening light (7:30-8:00 pm facing East) while waiting for more wildlife.
You can't see them, but there are two mooses feeding about 150 yards beyond Ranger Lake.
In this next group I was experimenting with the morning light (6:00 am facing East then North).
I really like the mirror effect in these two.
Another surprise storm. It hailed for about 20 minutes and over 2.5 inches of rain in the next two hours.
Various views from the trail.
Looking West with one of the Ranger Lakes in the center. The campground is just beyond the lake.
Ranger Lake from higher up the trail.
The trail ended here at about 10,400 ft. These next two look south into Rocky Mountain National Park.
You have to look closely, but the grey sky to the West (below the blue and the setting sun)
was a huge windstorm coming off the Front Range of the Rockies from Ft. Collins to Colorado Springs.
Winds were expected over 60 mph with gusts to 100.
This storm had caused us to change our plans and move on to Eastern Colorado.
It took 2 hr. 15 min. to hike around Bonney Lake. The dam itself was over 1.5 miles long.
There was one scary moment when I was crossing the inlet area and sank in mud up to my knees.
