I was up reasonably early for a Saturday morning--especially after a day that included cleaning out an old man's apartment and taking some things, including his flat screen TV (which I carried in!) to his new abode in a nursing home. It was to be a clear day with little or no prospects of an afternoon thunderstorm.
I wanted to see the flowers on the trailhead above Eldora, which is a few minutes beyond Nederland, for those of you who know the area. The road from Eldora, about six miles in all, is rocky, narrow, filled with holes and boulders--just the road for my Subaru sedan! I had driven it before so I could do it again. The flowers are late this year, but it is August, and they will wither and wilt. I didn't want to miss them. What if I was already too late?
I don't know what time the first visitors' arrived at the trailheads--first Hessie, then 4th of July--but it must have been in the darkness. I led a parade of cars up the rocky road from Hessie and parked farther down the road from the trailhead than I realized until I walked back to my car after the hike.
I started out with camera in hand. I would take pictures and saturate myself in the beauty up to the spot where the lower flowers stopped. Then I would turn around and go back to the junction and walk to Diamond Lake, an easier trail with the promise of flowers all around the lake.
First I saw the yellow heartleaf arnica (#1) Was I too late? I could see them other places. Then I found a couple of tall monkshood (in the 2nd photo). That was better. Monkshood I would enjoy. Farther up the trail the hillside opened into a field of flowers. Paintbrush was added to the mix. I was in luck! The fields opened as I hiked up hill and stopped to take one photo after another. Then I was photographing the parry primrose by the stream and realised I would be making a decision. This was where I would turn around. But I didn't.
I had forgotten one thing. I am enthralled, yes that's the word, with being above tree line, about 11,000 ft. here. The trailhead where I began is at 10,000 ft. so it was only about two miles to that vantage point, and at the end of the lower trail's flower gardens, I was too close to turn back. I'd just go as far as I felt like it.
Wherever the masses of people from all those cars were, it wasn't on the higher trail. A man and his 7-year-old son and I caught up and passed each other as we strode up the rocky trail that hugs the mountain. They were on their way to Lake Dorothy, which sits just above 12,000 ft. He kept saying to his son, and to me without realizing it, "we're almost there." I knew that not to be so when he began his mantra, but it still helped.
I got behind when I found clumps of moss campion blooming next to the trail. This was an early summer flower, but here it was in August--blooming in full glory. I bypassed the bouquet of alpine columbine going up, but couldn't resist on the way down. I had to keep going or I would lose track of my young friend, now bounding up the trail. Nearer the crest and junction of the trail, my energy renewed. This year I would make it. I was going to Lake Dorothy!
The trail from the junction is a nice walk over the tundra. Yes, there had been many flowers there earlier in the season. Their remains dotted the landscape. That was okay. I can't imagine making the trek with all that could be blooming blossoming at once. The flowers in the last photo, similar to one I took near Trail Ridge Road in late June, simply jumped out at me from overhead, hanging onto the rocks near the opening to Lake Dorothy. Then the lake opened up
in front of me. I exchanged photos with the man and his son, me taking a couple of them and each of them taking one of me with the lake in the backgound. Should I hike there again, I would like to take a camera that would give you a real view of the area. However, if I'm never to make that full hike again, this was a blessed day.
Other hikes with friends along this trail have found us running from afternoon thunderstorms and pill-sized sleet. Yesterday I was blessed with blue skies and the opportunity to hike on to the uphill ridgecrest and hang out. I experienced the trail slick, not from rain and sleet, but with rocks, pebbles and sandy dirt. I was able to slow down as fatigue took hold. My birthday-gift hiking poles were firm. I had time to enjoy the flowers from a different vantage point though I did have to move on. I was grateful every step of the way for the opportunity to enjoy God's creation in such an amazing place!
PS: Yes, I have close ups of flowers and a few photos that might qualify as art photos. I've saved them for another post. This time I wanted to give you an idea of the variety and vastness of the beauty, such as is possible from my photographs.
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