A Walk In The Hills
Hi Mike,
My old buddy Joe, a long-standing member of the Fogies Five (and an even longer-standing member of the “B.A.D.” club when we were CU grad students), and I went on a hike up to the alpine meadows of the Crater Lakes cirque, 30 miles west of Boulder. Along with us came Wayne, Joe’s postdoc. Wayne is from the Phoenix/Tucson inferno, and hasn’t had much of a chance to cruise the high country. The hike up to Crater Lakes exceeded all of our expectations. After 3 miles of steep hiking through the woods, we reached timberline, and found one of Colorado’s finest alpine meadows. We lolled around among the flowers, and would still be up there (I’m writing after dark), were it not that threatening thunderclouds and lightning drove us out and down the trail. We hiked on home wards through a refreshing hailstorm and found Boulder wrapped in clouds, teeming with rain. Wayne carried back a rapidly melting chunk of a snowfield from the cirque, so he can show it (re-frozen) to his Arizona family, many of whom have never (!) seen snow.
Another great day in the Rockies!
Ed
If I didn’t know better, I’d fear that rakkity had passed on and was somehow emailing us from the Great Beyond, so beautiful are his copious images of a wildflower riot in the High Rockies … ! Thanks for letting us tag along on these superb jaunts into these gorgeous lands! Enough earthly beauty to beggar the imagination …
Comment by el Kib — August 1, 2007 @ 7:49 am
Think we can get Schreib to pay for an October trip for the group to camp in Estes Park? rakkity would join us. And if we drugged his OJ and added lead weights to his back pack, rak wouldn’t be a nuisance agitating for hikes beyond our picnic table.
Comment by michael — August 1, 2007 @ 7:58 am
Whoa… It astounds me that every picture is more beautiful than the last. It’s nice to know there are still untouched wonders to behold in nature.
Comment by Jen — August 1, 2007 @ 9:25 am
Breath-stopping, Rak. thanks.
Comment by Anon — August 1, 2007 @ 11:33 am
One of the surprises was how few people went up the extra 1/4 mile to the meadow above the lake. On the climb through the woods, we were passed by, and passed, a couple of dozen other people. For some dumb reason, they all stopped at the lakes. So we sat up there amid the wildflowers, enjoying the colors and the ambiance, while 20-30 other people wandered around below, all unaware of the higher beauties of the alpine meadows a 10 minute walk away.
Comment by rakkityed.schmahl — August 1, 2007 @ 12:28 pm
Wow.
But here’s what’s funny (or sad, depending on your perspective): I was watching the slide show go by, and I found myself wondering who scattered the “Alpine Meadow” seed mix, what company put out the packet, and how many packets it took.
Comment by Jennifer — August 1, 2007 @ 9:18 pm
Odin & Thor’s Seed and Bolt Supplies
1,000,001 Via Asgard
Jotenheim
Cost for one packet of Alpine Meadow Mix:
One seventh of your earthly soul
Comment by rakkityed.schmahl — August 2, 2007 @ 5:08 pm