Last weekend went hiking around Long Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. My main camera was having problems, so I had my old camera with me and the pics are not as sharp as usual. After about a half mile I was really wishing for my other camera. The wild flowers along the trail were great. It was an amazing display of colors. Elephant's Head  Field of Flowers Mixture of Colors Trail Through the Flowers White and Purple There was also a bull moose not far off the trail. Deer and elk are easy to see in these mountains; they are sometimes even in large herds. Moose are much less common. Before this I hike, I had only seen moose once before in Colorado.   Bull Moose Laying in a Field Next to Long Lake

Chasm Lake sits at the base of the face of Longs Peak and is one of the most scenic lakes in the park. The lake is at 11,800 ft (just above treeline) and Longs Peak at 14,255 towers above it. We started from the Longs Peak trailhead on the east side of the park. The trail starts out climbing through a pine forest. Once it crosses the treeline the views get amazing. This first picture is of Longs Peak with Mt. Lady Washington just in front of it on the right side. Once crossing over the ridge coming off Mt. Lady Washington, we could see Columbine Falls which comes from Chasm Lake. Also one of the less common routes up Longs Peak via The Loft is visible, but covered in snow. It goes almost straight up to the lowest point left of the peak. The trail crosses the creek above the falls, but first we had to cross two snowfields. This picture is looking back on the snowfields after we crossed them. The lake itself was still mostly frozen. Near its east shore, where the trail ends, the...

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In western Colorado near Grand Junction there's a big chunk of land rising above the desert. Grand Mesa National Forest rises several thousand feet about the Grand Valley and is covered with pine forests, alpine lakes and trails. The forest has the Crags Crest National Scenic Trail, which is a 10 mile loop, by alpine lakes, through meadows and across a rocky ridge. It goes over a ridge call Crags Crest, the highest point in the Grand Mesa National Forest. I hiked it counter-clockwise starting from the Eggelston Lake trailhead on the east side, going up a steep climb to the ridge first. Before the ridge I passed by a couple of alpine lakes. Once on the ridge there were drop-offs on both sides, but the trail was wide and easy to hike. While on the ridge, you can see the many lakes that cover the mesa. There are few tree along most of the the ridge, so the views are great. After coming down the ridge, the trail heads back, through pine forests and meadows. In August there are lo...