Changing seasons

As the days get shorter and cooler and the stores fill with Halloween candy and decorations, it is clear that autumn has arrived.  A popular fall activity for those in the Colorado Front Range is to head into the mountains seeking fall colors.  In particular, the leaves on the aspen trees are notorious for turning from a bright green to a glorious yellow that sparkle like gold in the sunlight with the slightest breeze.  So this past Friday, which also happened to be the last full day Louise was visiting us, we treated her to some sights of autumn by taking a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park to view the aspens' fall colors.  I had read the peak colors could be viewed between September 20-30 this year, so going on Sept 23 we hoped to see some brilliant displays of autumn, but we knew we'd have to go to the higher elevations to see the first signs of aspen gold.

We made the trip into a loop, by starting out heading north to Loveland, CO and taking Highway 34 west through Big Thompson canyon to Estes Park.  On the way home we then planned to leave Estes Park via Highway 36 southeast toward Lyons, CO and then Highway 66 east back to Longmont.

Big Thompson canyon along Hwy 34.  This was the site of a major flash flood in 1976.

We arrived to the national park, which is just west of the town of Estes Park, just after noon and began our visit with a picnic lunch in the park.  This gave me time to nurse Evan so that he could also enjoy the afternoon of sightseeing.  After lunch we went to Bear Lake and saw a grove of aspens that had started to turn gold.  The best part of this vista was that the lake was quite still and created a mirror image reflection of the trees in the water.  This way we got to see twice the beauty for the price of one!  We walked around part of the lake with Evan in the Baby Bjorn carrier and snapped plenty of photos.

Aspen gold in the forest and in the reflection on the lake.  Even the sky and clouds were reflected perfectly.

Group photo at Bear Lake.

After Bear Lake we headed down the road to Sprague Lake.  Sprague Lake was the site of the first snowball fight and snow angels for many of John's family when they visited this past December.  At that time, there were icicles hanging from the outhouse and we made snowmen with the wet snow on the ground.  John's brother, Liam, even made a coozy for his beer out of snow!  Thus, we had to swing by this site with Louise to show her the same place in a different season.  The snow was gone, the lake itself was not frozen over, and there were now even kayakers out on the water.  One other new sight at this location since our last visit were teepees of tree trunks, which had been chopped down and placed into careful piles for later burning.  These trees had been killed off by the mountain pine beetle and, in order to prevent the dead trees from becoming a hazard in the park, they were cut down and set to be burned this coming winter.   We had also seen the effects of the pine beetle on our road trip to Glenwood Springs, especially around the town of Dillon, where the mountain vistas in all directions were painted with shades of red and gray (the phases of the dead trees as they lose their needles) instead of pure forest green.

Making snowballs.

[Note the icicles on the outhouse building!]

Along the trail around Sprague Lake....then 

[Note Liam's drinking out of his snow coozy in the background!]

Along the same trail....now

Piles of tree "teepees" around the edge of Sprague Lake to be burned this coming winter.

Nana and Evan at Sprague Lake.

As we left the park, we kept our eyes open for elk.  Besides the fall colors, this time of year is also known for the elk's rut, or mating season.  I've learned from many drives through the mountains and national parks that when sightseeing for wildlife the best way to spot wildlife is often by spotting the places on the road where a lot of cars and bystanders have already pulled over for a closer look.  In the Moraine Park valley we spotted a road lined with cars, so we decided we should head that way for a peek.  To our dismay, the road was especially crowded and backed up with cars and people, and even though there was a herd of elk (one male and a "harem" of females) right by the road, we couldn't hardly see a thing.  We didn't have time to pull over and walk to somewhere with a better view either, as Evan was due for another feeding and we wanted to get home in time for dinner, so we just drove down the road until we could turn around and then back out.  Luckily, however, during our slow drive through the congested traffic near the herd, we rolled down the windows and were delighted to hear a few bugles from the male elk.  This is the anthem of the rut, and at least we were able to experience that part of it, despite having better views of herds of humans than the elk itself.

A quick glimpse of the bull elk between the human bodies that were lining the road.

Our last stop of the day was in Estes Park to allow me some time to nurse Evan while John and Louise popped into some shops.  Louise went into a store that she had shopped in this past December and got herself a new Colorado hoodie (or "jumper" as she would say) and a cute little "Estes Park" t-shirt for Evan with airplanes on it.  After Evan's tummy was full and souvenirs were purchased, we headed home for a "Friday night treat night" pizza and movie.  I couldn't have asked for a better day, and I hope that it was a memorable last day in Colorado for Louise.