Oh Colorado!

Colorado featured the best scenery I’d ever seen, until I moved to Ecuador.  My Dad’s town of Rifle is very similar to Cuenca in that no matter where you are standing in town, there are mountains surrounding you in all directions.  While there are some exceptions, the mountains are mostly tan or beige, but I think are almost as beautiful in their own right.  

I was fortunate to be able to hike with my sister one day, almost as fortunate as she was to be able to spend the day with me, as we day-hiked to the top of Mt. Sopris in June, which was still covered in [melting] snow, as you can see.

Before we hiked Sopris, we hiked to an awesome spot outside of Glenwood Springs called 'The Hanging Lake.'  It was an easy-moderate hike to a crystal-clear pond, where swimming was strictly forbidden.  It is a beautiful spot and very popular among the locals; the trail was actually crowded in places.

The Hanging Lake

On the hike to Mt. Sopris

That's my sister, Anna Helen!  Holding a green frog, that accidentally got left behind somewhere on the trail.

Still smiling...

Snow in June????

Yep...

These rocks (scree) covering the upper third of Sopris made is extremely unpleasant to walk on.

heading to the summit

at the top

still at the top, different view

beautiful, and cold, on the summit

heading back down, or up, I can't tell

climbing around, looking for the way down

How did we get up here?  How do we get back down?  We completely lost our bearings, and spent about 2 hours trying to figger out how to get back down.... we simply, only, needed to keep going straight.  That's all.  But it was very nerve-racking until we figured that out.  

the face of despair

on the way down from Sopris

nearing the end of the hike

We got off of Sopris with maybe an hour to spare, before a storm moved in.  Rainbow!

buttes on the way to Grand Junction, CO, from Rifle, CO

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My Mom & Dad, sharing a laugh; I think this is my favorite family photo, or at least photo of the two of them, I've ever seen.