Golden leaves and old mines...

One day in late September I found myself hiking near the old ghost town of Nevadaville (Old town... ghost town...). Aspens had turned yellow and lit the surrounding area with bright colors...

 

Two hours in Staunton Park

It was Saturday again, and it was hard to stay home. But I didn't want to drive for hours. Staunton Park came to mind as a nice place to hike and not too far from Denver. Less than an hour later, I parked the car and started walking along the trail. We'd been to Staunton Park a few times before, but always took the easier Davis Ponds trail (Short hike in Staunton Park... Fall colors!). This time I drove to the Lazy V Trailhead parking lot and chose the Old Mill trail to start.

 

Angry birds ;)

Not exactly angry, maybe just crazy. Let's go back in time and look at some birds I met this Spring in City park. The most impressive (at least for me) were the cormorants. Big black birds flying like cruise missiles low over the water.

 

Lotus and some other flowers...

There wasn't much sunshine last Saturday and the temperatures remained relatively cool, so it was a good time to go look for more flowers. And the flowers in the Botanical Garden looked simply amazing (in fact, as usual).

 

Chief Mountain hike

What can be better than staying downhill when the temperature climbs up and hits 90 degrees? Going to the mountains and having a hike somewhere above 10,000 feet is definitely a better thing to do. That's what I did last Saturday ;) I chose a trail I've never hiked before - Chief Mountain. Relatively close to Denver, relatively short and at a high altitude, it ticks all the boxes :). The trail is quite steep at the beginning and climbs between the trees.

 

Close look

Another Saturday and another visit to the Denver Botanic Garden. Just to walk around before the heat becomes unbearable and to look around and see the beauty of flowers.

 

Square Top Lakes - surprisingly round ;)

Another Saturday and I couldn't stay put. I decided to take an easy hike and went to Guanella Pass to hike up to Square Top Lakes. I didn't expect them to be square (and I was right), but I did expect to have a good time far from the hot air of the city downhills. I dropped my car and started along the trail that weaves through the beautiful valley...

 

Colorful gems

Another Sunday and another morning at the Denver Botanic Garden. The flowers there are like little precious gems scattered on the ground...

 

Wandering in the fog...

I missed hiking in the high country, especially around Loveland Pass. Hiking there is unusual and amazing, and I've done it a few times (for example - Loveland Pass - snow in June). So last week I drove up there and... found myself completely lost in the fog. Honestly, I don't have any photos because there was nothing to take photos of...just a thick gray fog covering everything (I mean it). But I was there and I hoped that the sun would warm up the sky and the gray mantle of fog would disappear. So I climbed up to the top of the trail, seeing nothing but the ground just beneath my feet (yeah, it's a 1,000-foot climb and it took a while) and discovered that not only was the fog thicker there, but also the wind was stronger and temperature was below freezing point. So I turned around... and started walking down to my car. When I was almost back to the summit, the surroundings cleared up a bit and I had a glimpse of the mountains around me. The wind cleared away the clouds and fog, and I had a few minutes to enjoy the view.