Happy Holidays!

Peace on Earth, Goodwill Towards All!

Holiday Lights!

One of my neighbors always 'Goes Big' with the Holiday Lights.

As for us, you are lucky to get interior decorations............Cindy decorates for other Holidays as well.  I'll try to post some of those as the seasons go by.......

Lasts Only 24 Hours......

Night Blooming Cereus

By the evening it will be Open.......

Maize Maze #2

Maize Maze #1

I thought Donald had posted these, but apparently not.........

Kenosha Pass Fall

Last Glimpse of Fall

Now under snow, we look back this week at the final images from Fall.

Flying Saucers......

It is easy to see how these lenticular clouds could be mistaken for UFO's at a distance......

New Banner Photos

I've switched banner images from the last snow of the past spring to the fallow fields and first snow on the Peaks for the Fall (above).

And also changed the Banner on my other blog:

More First Snow.......

Bare trees fared better......

And the perfect Christmas Tree

(A few months early)

First Snow: October 26, 2011

We interrupt Fall to bring you our first snowfall of the Season below 7000ft:

Unfortunately when leaves are still on the trees you end up with a lot of tree damage................

And we say goodbye to summer activities.........no more tomatoes..........and no more grillin'

New Snow at Long Lake

Went hiking again at Long Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Snowed on us the whole time. The ground was covered with a good 4-6 inches of fresh snow. I suspect that our after work hikes will be ending pretty soon with the onset of winter.

On the trail to Blue Lake

On the trail to Blue Lake, overlooking Mitchell Lake to the east. Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado.
It is really starting to get dark now, but the full moon provided enough light to get back to the trail head without needing to break out the headlamps.

Mitchell Lake

Here's another angle up at Mitchell Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado. We headed out after work so it was late and the light was starting to fade.

Mitchell Lake

One day after the snow storm, up at Mitchell Lake in the Brainard Lake area of the Indian Peak's wilderness in Colorado

Pawnee Peak from Brainard Lake

Last of the series. Pawnee Peak, from the shore of Brainard Lake, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado.

Autumn Mt. Audubon

Mt. Audubon, Brainard Lake area, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado.

A bridge over gentle waters

Long Lake, Brainard Lake area, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado.

Autumn at Brainard Lake

An autumn dusting of snow along the shore of Brainard lake.

North shore of Brainard Lake, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado

Pawnee Peak

Pawnee Peak, Brainard lake area, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado.

The first significant snow of the season measuring somewhere around 6 inches.

First snow in the front range

East end of Long Lake, Brainard Lake area of the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado.

The local foothills got about half a foot of snow over the weekend. The sun came out today, so we headed up there expecting that the roads would be closed, but instead found everything lightly covered in snow.

Sunset Reflection

Here's a reflection on the same lake. The water was pretty still so you actually get a better range of color in the reflection than in the sky, which is over exposed.

Sunset over Red Rock Lake

Here's a nice sunset over Red Rock Lake in the Indian Peaks wilderness, near Brainard Lake. Unfortunately there is a lot of noise in this image because it was very dark, and because I was hand holding it, I had to crank up the ISO to 3200.

Fall in the Colorado High Country

Just past sunset over Isabelle lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness of the Front Range of Colorado. Taken yesterday. Just a month ago there were still spring flowers around the lake. Last night everything had turned, and the temperature had dropped. Snow likely this weekend.

Last Stand

Here, I like how the silver trunks connect the color with the earth tones.

Pattern and texture

I love the pattern and texture of this shot provided by the combination of bare trees, yellow trees, and the evergreens in the foreground.

A little colorado fall color

While purists argue that we have nothing that compares to the range of color you see in the East, its still a wonderful sight. The weather was perfect and the trees are producing a great show this year.

What I like about this one is the criss-cross of green among the golden yellow.

Strawberry Park Hot springs

In our adventure to Steamboat, we discovered a place called Strawberry Park Hot springs. Its quite a place, with flower gardens, hobbit houses built into the rock faces, and wonderfully hot waters.


You can ready more about Strawberry Park Hot springs.

Gratuitous shots of Andy ... Kathleen is there too!

Andy is not a good camper. He's a definite homebody. He was quite perturbed that we hadn't returned home to sleep and he decided to climb into Kathleen's lap to express his feelings.

Rabbit Ears Motel

Another shot from our August trip to Steamboat Springs. The motel is named after a local rock feature called Rabbit Ears Pass.

Sign of the times

This was taken in North Central Colorado. Most of the ranchers have rigs on their property. It just happened to be flaming while we drove by. Later, it wasn't burning. Colorado has seen an explosion in oil and natural gas development over the last decade. We've got large fracking projects happening on the Western slope. It came as a rude shock to many ranchers to discover that they don't own the mineral right on their property. Despite the pretty ads on TV, fracking has been surrounded by controversy due to the claims of damaged ground water. This is my favorite. Who says water can burn!

Flower in the forest

One of the big surprises in hiking around Steamboat is the lushness of the forest floor. We found a micro climate with ferns and moss. The light was filtering through the trees when I shot this.

Dandelion

This is one of a number of photos shot while visiting Steamboat Springs just last month. This was taken along the bike path through town along the Yampa river. My earlier attempts to capture one of these this sumer just hasn't worked out. I suspect its partly due to the lighting. This one has great detail.

Remembering 9/11

Mt Bierstadt and the Saw Tooths

From Guanella Pass

Colorado Skies

Skies above Guanella Pass

Green Tomatoes

I had intended to photograph these as they turned red....but sorry I ate them without thinking!

Along the Trail........

More from Brainard Lake

Still a fair amount of snow on the trails........

Long Lake Trail

On the road.......

We're taking a little break, but I've left some posts to amuse you......

Favorite Places

We all have spots that we revisit time and time again to photograph.  Guanella Pass is one of those places for me.  It has been closed for two years due to a landslide.  I've already been there twice this year and plan a third trip before it closes for the winter.......

Monsoon........

We've had much more rain than normal this summer.  Usually the SW monsoon pattern misses us, but not in 2011.  Lots of Angry Skies:

I like the moodiness of B&W.....taken from I-70 heading up to the mountains....

The End