Larry A. Smail's Blog

Find a word to describe the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Sure one can come up with many words to vocalize in a weak attempt to give others a visual of such beauty.  One may use words such as: awesome, majestic, beautiful, jaw-dropping, unbelievable, but anyone hearing the words will not be able to visualize what you are trying to describe. There are NO words to describe the beauty. In fact photos can not demonstrate what the eye sees.

Laurie, trying to find words, expressed the sites as somewhat of a religious experience. I can concur with her statement. In fact, I went a step farther stating of being magnificent and spiritual. I can understand how Indians felt about sacred and spiritual lands.

We actually tried to make up words to describe. We couldn’t do it! One has to feel the experience and hold onto those memories.

My thoughts drifted to the words of the Apostle to the GENTILES, named Paul. The man told of an experience  of witnessing the glory of heaven. He was forbidden to speak of the glorious details. (2 Corinthians 12) Paul added of being caught up in Paradise and hearing of inexpressible words that no man could utter. I can relate to what Paul was discussing. Attempting to describe this beauty is inexpressible with words.

The altitudes of these mountains above see level is inspiring as well. I must admit I was feeling some pressure in my head at those heights at times.  I believe the highest we attained was around 14,000 feet by vehicle. Laurie and I walked up a trail to reach 12, 005 feet. The winds were strong. Wind speeds can get into the hundreds at some points.

The terrain of the Rocky Mountains is greatly diverse.  The bottomlands are often lush in green foliage and yellow flowers. Some areas consist of evergreen pines. Other areas are mingled with Quaking Aspens. (This would be beautiful in the fall. The Aspens turn into golden yellows.) Other points of interest yield other evergreens growing only at higher altitudes.  Evergreen devastation from the Pine Beetle is very common. The very highest points on mountains are tundra-like.  This is called the alpine regions. Very little vegetation appears at such heights of over 11, 400 feet above sea level.  The soil is thin and some grasses and low-growing flowers are in these areas.

Yellow-bellied Marmot

Wildlife abounds in these various eco-systems. We saw lots of Elk. We were blessed to see a Moose and her calf. We

Pika

saw some Mule Deer as well. Some interesting mammals located at the higher points of the mountains were the Yellow-bellied Marmot and Pika.

The Pika resembles a hamster and rabbit combination. They are only about eight inches long. The Marmot resembles our native Woodchuck or Groundhog in size. The coloring is different.

I am planning on doing an entry on western wildlife at a later date.

Snow cover on the mountains was less than in other years. That fact alone, and the lack of rain, has much of Colorado area in drought. In fact, we altered our traveling due to two major wildfires in south-western Colorado. We could see the smoke for miles. More on the fires in another entry.

The wild flowers in the tundra areas are low-growing. This is done due to extremely short growing seasons and protection from high winds.

Some additional photos below.

Alpine regions

Male Elk

Long-ago gold mine