A Wildflower Walk Along the Red Rocks

I am fortunate to live in a beautiful area in Colorado located along the Front Range that still has open space parks nearby in which to walk. Although I blogged about trails in this park here, here, and here, every season brings new views and this summer has been a particularly good wildflower season.

South Valley Park is 995 acres and contains 8 miles of trails, all of which wind around beautiful ancient red rock formations.

The park has excellent examples of both the Lyons and Fountain rock formations.  Hard to believe these formations were formed 250 million years ago! More than 7 millennia before Egypt's pyramids were built, human hunter-gatherers lived in this area as 10,000-year-old flecks of charcoal and a Folsom-style spear point have been found in the park during archeological digs.

The rocks are large and impressive...

...and the pastoral foothill scenery makes one feel far from civilization.

The plentiful rain we received during June brought a prolific amount of wildflowers this year!

So many different varieties!

So many different colors...

 

Colorado Wildflowers is an excellent database of wildflower photos and descriptions listed by color, family, size, or keyword.

I am so fortunate to have this park just a mile away from my house! It brings us endless pleasure to be able to walk its paths and enjoy nature. 

I hope you are also having an enjoyable summer!

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Rocky Mountain National Park with Family

Anne and Rich

I am continuing to blog about trips my husband and I took last summer, pre-pandemic days. This summer we are staying home trying to stay as healthy as possible.  I never had a chance to show many "Summer of 2019" trips on my blog, as I was blogging about our wonderful land and sea trip to Alaska--click this tab to read all those posts--that we took last June, which took up many posts. When my husband's sister and brother-in-law, Anne and Rich,  visited us last August, we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park ( RMNP) for a quick visit.  My husband and I have visited RNNP many times since moving to Colorado--it is only about a two-hour drive from our home.  If you'd like to see past more in-depth posts about the park you can see them on this tab link.  This time we wanted to share the beauty with Anne and Rich. Our brother-in-law was not a fan of high elevations, as he had some dizziness and shortness of breath when we visited the ski resort town of Breckenridge a few days before--click here to read that post--so we knew this would be a quick but a non-the-less scenic trip to enjoy together,

If I ever win the lottery I'm going to buy a second house in Estes Park, the town very close to the entrance to RMNP,  so I can stay there often and visit RMNP all the time.  I absolutely love it!  This summer RMNP, which is a very popular national park that attracts many millions of visitors every year, instituted a reservation system to control how many people could enter the park in an effort to help visitors maintain social distance and avoid overcrowding in parking areas.  I heard it is working so well it may become a permanent feature. Local residents are able to enter the park without a reservation before 6am and after 5pm--see more information on the park's official website at this link. 

Because we were going to basically drive in and out of the park, so my brother-in-law could stay in the car and not exert himself, most of my photos were "drive-by" photos.  

Trail Ridge Road is the major road inside the park and covers the 48 miles, both ways, between Estes Park on the park's east side and Grand Lake on the west. It crests at over 12,000 feet and includes many overlooks to experience the subalpine and alpine worlds of the park.

Even though it was the month of August there was still snow and glaciers on the high Rocky Mountains!

Lots of purple mountain majesty to see in every direction!

So many majestic views the higher we drove.

We made a quick stop at Forest Canyon Overlook so Anne could take a quick walk with me to get some views of the deep green forest views below.

We arrived at the Alpine Visitor Center parking lot but did not go into the building--this is the highest part of Trail Ridge Road so we knew we would turn around here and go back to a lower elevation for Rich's comfort. If you look at the collage above one of the photos is of a tundra walk up the side of a mountain across from the Alpine Center. The tundra in this part of the park is similar to the tundra at the arctic circle!

The views here are spectacular!

Long's Peak is in the distance.  At an elevation of 14,259-feet (4346 m), it is the highest mountain in the park.

Please click on photo collage to enlarge to learn more about the Alpine tundra.

Alpine Tundra view

Please click on photo to enlarge

Alpine Tundra wildflowers

Do you see the elk in the distance?

A closer view

They live and roam wild in a beautiful place!

On our drive back down to a lower elevation in the park we saw many bristlecone pines and weather bent trees.  Trail Ridge Road is closed starting in October to late May due to deep snow.

We did a quick drive-by to show Anne and Rich the famous Stanley Hotel in Estes Park.  This is where the author Stephen King was inspired to write his horror novel "The Shining" because of a paranormal experience he had there as a guest.  I also "saw" a ghost when we stayed at the Stanley Hotel.  My ghost seemed to be a benevolent one! Click here to read that post. Summer thunderstorm clouds gathered on the way home.

As we approached our community we were greeted by a beautiful rainbow in the sky!  It was the end of a wonderful and memorable day together. We hope that we will have many more visits to Rocky Mountain National Park in the future....in the meantime we wish you all dear readers to please stay happy, stay grateful, and stay healthy!

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Dinosaur Ridge Geologist Tour

Four years ago my husband and I made our first visit to a nearby scientific attraction in our area, where dinosaurs once roamed, called Dinosaur Ridge. We visited with my daughter and her family--click here--to read that post. Our oldest granddaughter was just 3 at the time!  Last summer we made another visit with a community group that we belong to, on a special tour called "Walk With A Geologist."

Dinosaur Ridge is located at 16831 W. Alameda Parkway in Morrison, Colorado, and is part of the Dakota Hogback, which you can see in the top left of the photo collage above. It is one of the world's most famous dinosaur fossil locations! In 1877 the bones of many dinosaurs were found here, including Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, and Allosaurus. Full-size models of some of the dinosaurs can be seen around the grounds of Dinosaur Ridge. 

In 1973 the Dinosaur Ridge area was recognized for its uniqueness as well as its historical and scientific significance when it was designated the Morrison Fossil Area National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.

The Dinosaur Ridge Trail (map above--click on to enlarge) is approximately two miles long and has interpretive signs along the way that explain the geologic and paleontological features. The rocks on the east side of the ridge are part of the Cretaceous Dakota Formation. When Alameda Parkway was being constructed in 1937 to provide access to Red Rocks Park, road workers discovered hundreds of dinosaur footprints. along the exposed ridge. The west side of the ridge is called Triceratops Trail and is part of the Morrison Formation of the Jurassic age, and it is where geologist Arthur Lakes discovered the dinosaur bones in 1877.

On this visit, a local resident and retired geologist volunteer with Friends of Dinosaur Risge gave us a very informative tour.  Usually, this is a walking tour, but as we have many seniors in our group we were allowed to drive up the ridge and make stops along the way. The road is now closed to traffic and usually can only be walked or traveled on a shuttle bus service as part of a paid tour.

Here our tour guide is pointing to dinosaur tracks left in what was once the sandy shore of a great sea 100 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. 

There are many areas on the ridge with hundreds of these footprints left behind by dinosaurs so long ago!

There are also many dinosaur bones to be seen...

... as well as giant imprints of the dinosaurs.   

Dinosaur Ridge is really a fascinating way to travel back in time.

We went up and around the ridge to the western side where we had this beautiful view of the Colorado foothills.

Off in the distance can be seen the famous outdoor Red Rocks Amphitheatre.  The two large red rocks that are seen in the photo above are from its outer walls, with the seating located between them.  I have many posts on my blog featuring concerts we attended at Red Rocks Amphitheatre--here is one--click here--where we saw Josh Groban perform.  It will show what the theater looks like inside.

On this side of the ridge, we saw the Morrison Formation.  The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of  150 million-year-old Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, and limestone and is light gray, greenish-gray, or red.

Please click on this to enlarge

The Morrison Formation was named after Morrison, Colorado, where the first fossils in the formation were discovered by Arthur Lakes in 1877. That same year, it became the center of the Bone Wars, a fossil-collecting rivalry between early paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope. In Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, the Morrison Formation was a major source of uranium ore.

Another area of interest shows the slimy carpet-like beach area where the dinosaurs roamed 92 million years ago. The placard explains that microorganisms created sediment in layers in supratidal zones where the high tide water would saturate and feed the mat and then quickly drain away. This mat was one of the reasons the dinosaur prints were so well preserved.

When the tour was completed we dropped into the Dinosaur Discovery Center to look at the exhibits. They had replicas of scales and horns from stegosaurus, dinosaur claws, casts of footprints, and actual dinosaur bones, as well as other exhibits, and there is also a visitor center and a gift shop.  

Memorial Day 2020

Remembering and Honoring 

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The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

While my husband and I were visiting Crested Butte, Colorado, at the end of September -- click here, here and here, to see those posts, we decided to take a side trip to The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  This was going to be our second visit to this unique national park. We visited it in 2016 in late November--click here to read my post about that visit-- when we celebrated Thanksgiving in the towns of Telluride, Ouray, and Ridgway in SW Colorado. At that visit, the only section of the national park that was open was the area around the visitor center.  The rest of the road and trails were closed due to snow and ice. We vowed to come back someday to see the rest of the park and were happy to be able to visit it again at this time. (All photos will enlarge when clicked on)

Driving south-west from Crested Butte on US 50 to CO 347 it took us an hour and 45 minutes to reach the main entrance of the park. Along the way, I had my first glimpse of the Gunnison River that flows through the canyon.

The first stop in the park, Tomichi Point, shows the impressive, steep, deep and narrow canyon. The park protects the deepest 14 miles of the Black Canyon gorge, about 75 miles upstream from the Gunnison's junction with the Colorado River.

A placard at this stop shows the eleven more viewpoints that are ahead in the park a total 6-mile drive.

The first viewing platform in the distance, as seen from the park's visitor center window. At the visitor center, we enjoyed seeing exhibits and a movie about the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and the history of its explorers and the attempts to navigate the Gunnison River and build a railroad at the bottom. You can read more about the canyon's history on this link.

At each of the eleven stops, there is a trail leading to a viewing platform that allows for safe spectacular views down into the canyon.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison exposes you to some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock, and craggiest spires in North America. 

With two million years to work, the Gunnison River, along with the forces of weathering, has sculpted this vertical wilderness of rock, water, and sky.

The Black Canyon is so named because its steepness makes it difficult for sunlight to penetrate into its depths. As a result, the canyon is often shrouded in shadow, causing the rocky walls to appear black. At its narrowest point, the canyon is only 40 ft (12 m) wide at the river. 

The canyon has some of the world’s oldest exposed rock — Precambrian or “basement” rock that is nearly 2 billion years old!

My husband peering over the side at one of the viewpoints.

Each stop along the way is named and has the length of the trail leading to the viewing platform. 

All of the stops are along the south rim of the canyon, There is no bridge crossing over the canyon and road access on the north side is very limited.

The Painted Wall section of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is the tallest sheer cliff in Colorado at 2,250 feet (690 m). Lighter-colored pegmatite dikes are clearly visible in the rock walls.

The Gunnison River drops at a far steeper pace than the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. At its steepest part, the river drops 240 feet per mile.

The elevation of the top of the rim of the canyon is almost 8,000 feet, and the canyon descends 2,000 to 2,722 feet above the swift and turbulent Gunnison River below. That depth is near twice the height of the Empire State Building!

You can see mountain ranges in the distance from portions of the rim.

There are unmaintained hiking trails on the north and south rims of the canyon, which take about two hours to hike down, and four hours to hike back up. 

All inner canyon descents are strenuous and require Class 3 climbing and basic route finding skills, plus an official permit. Most visitors to the park view the canyon by the various scenic overlooks.

On this visit, we were able to drive down to the Gunnison River by taking the East Portal Road inside the park. This provides access into Curecanti National Recreation Area where camping, picnicking and fishing are available.

The road is extremely steep --16% grades--with hairpin curves. 

Down, down, down, we descended...

 ...until we reached the banks of the Gunnison River.

Here we were able to park and walk along a portion of the river...

..and admire the views looking up! 

There are trails to hike on the bottom of the canyon, but they require permits and more time than we had.

We spent almost the entire day at the rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, driving and then hiking to all of its magnificent viewpoints...

..and knowing we had an almost two hours drive back to Crested Butte, we left the area to return to the town for a late dinner. We were so happy that we were finally able to see the entire national park from the south rim and the bottom up. It certainly was one of the most unique parks we have ever visited!

On my next post, I'll show you the Blue Mesa and the very unusual topography of the Curecanti National Recreation Area that we passed along the way.

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