Random Photos, Rocky Mountain National Park

We were only in Rocky Mountain National Park for two full days. I'd like to go back and visit it again and hike some more trails there, and get into the back country. Because most of the trip was spent in the San Juans, I haven't even processed all of my photos from the Park. Here are a few random shots.

I saw this withered husk of timber along a glacial tarn and figured it was worth being the subject of a photograph.

Longs Peak, the mightiest mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Above treeline on Longs Peak. This is where I first learned all about altitude sickness first-hand.

A pretty impressive waterfall on the way to Chasm Lake. Made insignificant by the enormity of the landscape around it.

Pure Awe

The most stunning place I have ever been in my life was the Weminuche Wilderness in Colorado. I'd been to mountains before, of course. I'd hiked the Appalachians from Katahdin in Maine to Wade Mountain in Alabama. I'd hiked in the mountains in southern California and in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in Montana and Wyoming.

But for scenery that inspired nothing but awe in me I have to give the highest marks to the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. It's a vast range of very high country (for the lower 48) that is packed with tortured terrain and stunning vistas. I wonder if I'll ever see anything like it again.

Today, I was looking through photos of my trip there. One major drawback for me while I was in that place was the altitude sickness and my back injury. The altitude sickness dogged me for almost the whole time I was there. It took me many days to finally acclimate to the high elevations, and by that time I had to head home. The next time I go to such country, I'll make sure to spend more time getting accustomed to the thin air.

I was generally struck speechless.

The tilted, tortured crust of Mother Earth.

Sometimes I was so ill from altitude sickness that I could barely move. And yet I'd still pause to take in the scenery.

Alpine glacial lakes.

Willow looks nice and beautiful, but it's a horror to negotiate.

What can you say? In the silence all I could do was look and appreciate.

I took this one from the worst campsite we were forced to use.

Waking to the mountains dusted in snow.

Chicago Basin on the way out.

The weather we encountered was all over the range. Snow. Sleet. Hot. Cold. Rain. Sunshine. Thunder.

This was the deepest into wilderness as I have ever been. No matter which way we could have headed from this point, we were at least two days from the nearest road.

High valleys surrounded by towering peaks.

I had never seen mountains such as these.

I think I took this one the day we were stopped by thunderstorms.

Trail heading down from a very high pass (almost 13K feet) toward Chicago Basin.

Hike to Blue Lakes

Join me via photos on a hike to Blue Lakes in the Mount Sneffels Wilderness in Colorado. You want color? We got color. I've never seen such color!

It is what it is.

National Forest signs are often really cool.

My favorites are Wilderness Area signs.

I'm sorry. The Colorado scenery stops me in my tracks. And this is run of the mill for the state!

A nice grove of Engelmann spruce on the shores of Lower Blue Lake.

And, it's obvious why they call them the Blue Lakes.

 

I stand in awe.

Looking down on the Lower Blue Lake.

You can see the flow of material down to the lake from the glacial cirque above. This is still, technically speaking, a glacier. Called a "rock glacier" there remains a substrate of ice beneath the rocky surface. You can even see a patch of exposed ice in the center of the rocky material just above the upper shore of the lake.

Middle Blue Lake

 

Ye author on the saddle between the Middle and Upper Blue Lake.

Glacial headwall at the Upper Blue Lake.

Zounds!

Another stop on an overlook to peer down at the jewel below.

And...on the way back to camp we stopped to view this colorful peak (not on the hike).

Threat of Thunderstorms

One thing that I discovered in Colorado is that I have a hard time acclimating to high altitude. I'm okay until I get above 11,600 feet or so. At that point I begin to suffer from nausea and fatigue. I was feeling pretty good at the end of the trip, but that was after eight days at altitude. The next time I go hiking in that kind of territory I'll have to prepare a little better for physical activity at high elevations.

One thing that fooled me into thinking that I would be okay after a few days of leisurely acclimatizing in Rocky Mountain National Park and around Ouray is that I'd had no problems hiking above 10,000 feet in Yellowstone. But apparently my breaking point wasn't at the 10,600-foot level I was hiking there, but the 11,600 feet that I encountered in the San Juans.

Next time I'll have to train better and take more time growing accustomed to the thin air.

This photo was taken by Andy. We had to stop here to don rain gear and jackets. It was sleeting fiercely. Also, thunderstorms were raking the summits. We were headed to Columbine Pass so that we could cross the mountains and make it over to Chicago Basin. In retrospect, we should have stopped at this great campsite and set up our tents for the night. As it was, we were halted higher on the mountain by the very real threat of lightning and ended up camping in a really crappy spot.

We were stopped roughly in this area. Maybe another 100 vertical feet from where I took this photo.

And this is Columbine Pass, where we finally found ourselves, but not until we'd spent an extra night on the wrong side of the mountains.

Shortly after lunch, we were sent packing by lightning.

Dream-like

Like something from a fantastic dream.

Another Glorious Day in the Weminuche

Continuing fine photographs taken in the Weminuche Wilderness Area.

VAST!

The willow was almost as brilliant as the aspens.

Gorgeous tortured terrain.

Hiking through willow sucks ass.

We take a break on the tundra.

Weather forming over the high peaks.

Another of the many glacial lakes we passed.

Bob Johnson.

The Rio Grande Pyramid. A genuinely beautiful mountain. On the right you can see the odd geological formation known as "The Window".

It wasn't all open tundra. Here we passed through a forest of Englemann spruce.

And everywhere the glacial tarns below the great summits of the San Juan Mountains.