A trip to Rogers Pass

In September, I took a little one-night backpacking trip to Rogers Pass.

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I don't normally find myself at so high an elevation so late in the year -- it's usually too cold for me! But I didn't realize how much I was missing. Though there were no aspen to speak of, the bushes in the alpine zone were gloriously colored, the grasses all shades of red, yellow, brown and orange. Next to the blue-green ponds, it was breathtaking.

Heart Lake

Rogers Peak Lake

Elephant's-trunk trees... no, I made that up. They're pine trees.

Resplendent fireweed

It was so warm that night I slept with the fly off my tent, waking sometime in the night because I was too hot in my bag.

On Sunday morning I climbed up to the pass, which is on the continental divide. It was very cold, with a fierce wind. I could see Winter Park, as well as a couple ravens playing in the drafts.

The wind was gusting to perhaps 40 mph, and the ravens were doing remarkable things in it -- shooting straight up, diving down in a barrel roll, skimming an inch above the ground, or hovering exactly two feet above me, watching me. They kept returning to examine me. (Or were they taunting me?)

It was one of the most extraordinary wildlife encounters I've ever had. I didn't manage to capture their more extreme acrobatics, but did get these videos (which also illustrate just how windy it was):

I followed the divide a ways, peeping down on the Iceberg Lakes:

I can see my car from here. Well, the parking lot anyway.

North toward the Indian Peaks

Heart Lake from above. Still doesn't look like a heart.

Mormon cricket... neither Mormon nor a cricket

As I was leaving, I came to the dried-up lake above. After the brilliant color of the rest of the scenery, this area seemed drawn in black and white.

I regretted that K. hadn't been there too, though the truth is that I always connect with nature more deeply when I'm alone. I notice things I wouldn't otherwise and I often feel more at peace. It was the kind of trip that reminds me of why I love backpacking.