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Spring and Summer, 2013

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FrontRangeLiving.com -> Outdoors

COOLEY LAKE AT SOUTH PLATTE PARK: Each spring, college students head to Florida or other southern climes to soak in the sun and water. Birds do, too, and the luckiest will head to South Platte Park, where a kingdom of waterfowl cruises placidly on a wide lake in the middle of suburbia. Owned by the city of Littleton, South Platte Park's Cooley Lake is 230 acres of water. Once a gravel pit in the 1950s, the 1965 flood not only changed the terrain, but forced citizens to consider how best to stem flooding and preserve some natural beauty.

PAWNEE BUTTES: East of Greeley, drought shapes the Pawnee Grasslands and winds shave layers of sandstone from chalky bluffs. Tuffs of grasses support throngs of small birds and the Pawnee Buttes rise 300 feet like ships in a sea of grass. The buttes, striped white and pink, red and orange, brown or gray, reflect the waning sunlight. Within thirty minutes the sky changes from wispy to thunderous clouds, although rain is scarce. Grasses survive on a gush of water in the spring, which carries them through a parched summer. Theses eastern plains are serene and spiritual. Empty spaces and an eerie quiet contribute to a solitary experience.

MUSHROOMS AND LICHENS: The French adore chanterelles. The Italians savor porcinis. The Japanese crave matsutakes. Truffles, which are underground mushrooms, cost plenty. Mushrooms are ancient food but still mysterious. Were you to question chefs or hikers, their mushroom knowledge might be thin and scanty. Mushrooms are unlike any other food. They’re not even a plant. Mushrooms are fungi.

FOSSILS AND LILIES--Stroll on the wide paths of Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and step back in time—far back. Florissant includes not only the brief history of humans, but also the history of all creatures that galloped, slithered, lumbered or flew on this earth before us. You’re on the graves of millions of ancient mammals, fish, insects and reptiles. On any summer day, fields of wildflowers and the gentle hiking trails lure nature lovers. Except for the stump of an ancient sequoia, and a few fossils in the visitor center, many unearthed specimens now lodge in universities or museums. But most reside underfoot.

VAIL'S SHRINE RIDGE TRAIL: In a forest of Colorado green, two of the brightest wildflower reds to be found are paintbrushes and penstemons. Lipstick red. Fire engine red. Screaming reds that can be seen from miles away—and that’s the point. Although paintbrushes may be pink or yellow and penstemons blue or purple, the reds exist to be pollinated by one specific creature—the hummingbird. These tiny-winged birds, in their long migratory flights, seek out bright red blossoms for a nectar snack and pollinate an oddly configured bloom.

CASTLEWOOD STATE PARK: Sunflowers arch over high summer grasses exposing a wide-open sky as storms roll in from the west. Wild roses have exchanged summer blossoms for autumn red hips. Chokecherries ripen into purple clusters. Yellow prairie coneflowers mix with Indian blanket flowers, scarlet gilia, orange globe mallow, spotted gayfeather and clusters of prairie winecups. A breeze ripples waves in a sea of golden grasses. But it’s the sunflowers that stand tall, as high as the grasses, facing east.

All plant families have their champions. The rose family arrives perfumed, dressed in scarlet colors. The mint family includes basil and thyme--great additions to world cuisine. But for sheer success, the daisy or aster family takes center stage.

PHANTOM CANYON: As the crow flies, Phantom Canyon sits northwest of Fort Collins, a canyon in Colorado without a road. This single distinction makes arriving at the canyon unlike any other. People arrive on foot as they have for hundreds of years. Parking is near the highway and visitors hike a short distance from Highway 287 crossing privately owned ranch land. There's only silence followed by the sounds of caws from birds. Suddenly the earth opens to reveal a huge cleft with the silvery glint of a river below. It's not until hiking the trail into the canyon that the swooshing of water swirling around boulders can be heard.

COLUMBINES, BUTTERCUPS AND CLEMATIS: It’s easy to understand why the columbine is Colorado’s state flower. With its sky-blue color, elegant bobbing stems and finely scalloped leaves, the wild columbine is stunning to anyone who has hiked a mountain trail and chanced upon a cluster. And while columbines can be found in China and Europe, the Colorado columbine is as spectacular as any.

RUGGED BEAUTY: COMANCHE GRASSLANDS--After miles of flat grasslands, the Comanche National Grasslands suddenly give way to the deep interior of a grand canyon--unexpected and breathtaking. Comanche is a piñon-juniper forest with broad canyons carved by the numerous drainages feeding the Purgatoire River. You'll often see a forest of cholla cacti sprinkled among the junipers and piñon pines. Spring wildflowers carpet the grasslands. And in the fall, sunflowers and feathery grass spikes bend and sway. The grasslands are a bird-watchers' paradise. Lark buntings clothed in black and white feathers, like a tiny tuxedo, look unsuitably formal for grasslands. At Comanche they perch atop the cholla cactus and dart within for protection. The spiny limbs never appear to bother them. 

A LABORATORY OF TREES: Mueller State Park--Our ancestors have walked on this earth for such a short time that it may be impossible for us to truly appreciate conifers--until we see them in a grand display. Mueller State Park, west of Colorado Springs, is an astonishing laboratory of Colorado trees on 5,000 acres. With over 50 miles of trails, you can hike into zones of ponderosa, Douglas-fir, aspen, bristlecone pine, limber pine and Engelmann spruce. 

HIGH POINTS--In the eyes of global rock gardeners, Colorado’s alpine and subalpine wilderness areas define our most extravagant and spectacular gardens. It’s no surprise that rock gardeners in Colorado have inspired gardeners elsewhere. And many enthusiasts of rock gardens travel to our state simply to see our alpine gardens. Most make an effort to visit at least four sites: Trailridge in Rocky Mountain National Park and Summit Lake on Mount Evans are prime destinations for alpine plants. Guanella Pass and Boreas Pass must be included for subalpine natural rock gardens, too.

THE DINOSAUR HIGHWAY: DINOSAUR RIDGE--One of Colorado’s most unusual museums consists of a road sliced through a mountain where dinosaur footprints, bones and fossils of prehistoric insects or plants are etched by nature into the scraped rock walls. Children hug the giant footprints, as if to clutch the spirit of a prehistoric beast while their parents scan the shale for a glimpse of a fern or insect outline. Dinosaur Ridge draws families, and even foreign visitors, to this unusual site. Once a month, a ribbon of highway serves as a ramp up and over a modest mountain.

OUTDOORS

ROCKY MOUNTAIN ARSENAL NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE --A short distance from downtown Denver, in the heart of Commerce City, you’ll find the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. At first glance, it’s an unlikely site for wildlife. But this refuge reveals a story unlike any other.

WEEKENDS WITH FIDO--When you ask people how often they take their dogs to dog parks they may smirk, or shuffle a foot or two and blush. Some will tell you they “go a little bit overboard when it comes to the dog thing” and then admit that they go at least four times a week and drive up to 30 minutes each way to get to the best parks. They stay about an hour and, they say, trips to dog parks are usually made in addition to walks around the neighborhood. They tell you that the dog parks give their dogs some time to run, socialize with other dogs and play.

UNTRAMMELED ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK: LESSER-TRAVELED TRAILS -- When I first came to Colorado, I avoided Rocky Mountain National Park. It was too crowded and I thought the scenery was ho-hum, especially compared to other parts of the state, such as the San Juans or the mountains around Aspen. I admit it; I was a snob. But over the years, its closeness (and the joy of avoiding the I-70 and 285 corridors) started drawing me up, and I found another good reason to hike the national park: its wildness.

SURFING THE COLORADO WAVES: For those who grew up near water--oceans, lakes, or ponds--the call of the water is understandable. It soothes, invigorates, and offers hours of active or peaceful enjoyment. In a land-locked state those who seek water adventures find them more easily than you might imagine. Across the Front Range manmade watercourses have been mapped out for young and old kayakers and those who wade into the water to watch. And then there are the natural courses, the rivers and streams that are peopled with kayakers all year round.

SNOWSHOEING THE COLORADO TRAIL WITH FRIENDS: To some, snowshoeing conjures up images of peacefully making one's way through serene forests and blissfully getting in touch with one's inner self. Not me. Having never been on snowshoes, I pictured myself struggling along, feet clamped in oversized tennis racket-like contraptions. But when my editor suggested a "Snowshoeing along the Colorado Trail" story, I thought, why not? I'm athletic, I know people who love it, and I'd be able to get my dog out for some exercise while trying something new. So here's how a reluctant snowshoer-to-be actually learned to enjoy her first trek.

CELESTIAL WANDERLUST: A GUIDE TO STARGAZING: The night sky glitters, lights skip and dance, and those down below gaze and wonder. They watch closely and follow the show, connecting the dots, plotting their course…Stargazing has an inextricable link to romance. It’s got all the essential components: mystery, chase and ultimate discovery.

HAVEN FOR HUMMERS: While the color purple is considered regal, hummingbirds bow to another hue--red blossoms with a tubular shape, says garden coordinator Liz Nichol, referring to bell-shaped blooms of penstemons that are filled with nectar. Such flowers make ideal dinner plates for the tiny, long-billed hummers that return every summer to the Hummingbird Garden at Starsmore Discovery Center, 2120 S. Cheyenne Cañon Road in Colorado Springs.

SNOWSHOEING IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK: The warnings were clear: lackluster snowfall, high winds and icy conditions in Rocky Mountain National Park. But the lure was enticing--a snowshoe hike with a ranger for two hours of trails. The warnings prove to be incorrect and the day is perfect.

COLORADO HOT SPRINGS: Not quite warm enough for water sports. Not nearly cool enough to hit the ski slopes. But September and October are the perfect months to make a weekend trip to one of Colorado’s many inviting hot springs. In my six years in Colorado, I’ve been to a dozen or so, including Mount Princeton, Glenwood Springs, Hot Sulfur Springs and Eldorado Springs. But none has pleased me quite like the Strawberry Hot Springs just northeast of Steamboat Springs.

BARR LAKE: A PEACEABLE KINGDOM -- Even if you didn’t know that Barr Lake is a premier Colorado spot for bird watching, in a quick visit, you would soon find out. To the unacquainted, Barr Lake is surrounded by giant cottonwoods and willows, which house hundreds of birds. The closer you get, the louder the broadcasting of trills, caws, chirrups, whistles and melodies hatch from a bird orchestra. 

CYCLING IN VAIL-- ONE OF SUMMER'S BEST-KEPT SECRETS: Vail is snowy glitz in winter, but when summer arrives, the crowds thin and bicycles replace skis. True, Vail is best known for perilous mountain trails, but there are 14 miles of paved bike paths, most with breathtaking scenery and all free.

COLORADO ROCK FORMATIONS: "Geologists look at the landscape and see things others don’t," Gregg Campbell says, "for us, one million years is a short time." Gregg stands on a bluff in northern Colorado, where Highway 287 nearly meets Wyoming. Across the highway lies a mountain in red layers—rock and pebbly soil, sandwiched with clay, like layers of a frosted cake. "Part of our ancestral Rockies," he points out, a mountain of sedimentary rocks, where pressure and time has glued all together.

FLOWERS IN THE FOOTHILLS: Although Crested Butte attracts wildflower lovers in July, a quieter profusion of flowers just as remarkable blankets the Front Range--home to a wider diversity of species than anywhere else in Colorado. The blooms begin earlier and last longer. And this year, perhaps as an antidote to fire and drought, the early bloomers have provided a lavish production.

WINTER WALK: On a crisp, cold winter morning, naturalist Lynne Sullivan gathers her flock--a group of vividly hued coated hikers ambling along a Colorado mountain trail in search of wildlife. Lynne is a modern version of the old-fashioned ranger, a naturalist who guides others. Slender and long-legged as determined hikers often are, she wears layered clothing, thick-soled boots and carries all the right stuff—water bottle and day-old pizza, sunglasses and binoculars.

THE OTHER COLORADO: The sandstone bluffs are the Pawnee Buttes. The unbroken vista is Pawnee National Grassland. And together, they're one of Colorado's best-kept secrets. This is the place to go when you want a peaceful drive or near-solitary hike, far from the hordes of visitors seeking tourist-town glitz and more familiar Rocky Mountain views.

DEEP INTO BUTTERFLY TERRITORY: Suddenly a magnificent orange and black streak soars overhead. We’re dazzled by its speed, here and there, alighting and taking off. Sam swoops the net. We gasp as he details the expeditions that monarchs embark upon: the miles of flight, their return to specific places and the gradual loss of their habitat. All the while, the monarch is still, held firmly in Sam’s experienced fingers. He releases the monarch and it’s a blip on the horizon. We will see rare and exquisite small butterflies ahead, but none as showy.

MATCHLESS LEGEND: Like the mining site that bears its name, the word matchless also suits a story that could have been conjured up for a film, had it not actually unfolded in Leadville, sometimes called the Cloud City for its lofty elevation of over 10,000 feet. The tale takes on fresh life for anyone who visits the site of the Matchless Mine, where Baby Doe's one-room cabin, with its plank floor and small pot belly stove, has been restored as accurately as possible.

CRESTED BUTTE--COLORADO'S WILDFLOWER CAPITAL: Long after the columbines have dropped their petals on the foothills of the Front Range, the mountains surrounding Crested Butte, Colorado, burst into bloom. They are beginning to awaken in the subalpine meadows of the Elk Mountains that border the town when July and early August is bloom time at 10,000 feet.

WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM: The Medano-Zapata Ranch, the largest acquisition the Nature Conservancy has made in Colorado, fits into the organization’s current focus on what is called landscape-scale conservation. “Historically, the Conservancy has preserved pockets of land in a wide variety of places,” says Sharyl Massey, the group’s education and outreach coordinator for the San Luis Valley. “But many species need a greater landscape. You can’t recognize political boundaries, especially with migratory species. You have to work to save the entire habitat.”

HUNTING THE WILD MUSHROOM: Wild mushrooms may be the jewels of the forest, but with shitake, oyster, woodear and portabello mushrooms in the stores, it’s hard to judge the difference between a wild and cultivated mushroom. Here's the definition: wild mushrooms must be collected from the forest and cannot be cultivated on a mushroom farm. The exquisite, tender chanterelles or the robust, meaty boletus rarely are found fresh in stores. They're discovered in the mountains of Colorado.

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS: Spring flowers may be the prima ballerinas of nature. But by late summer, the ballet corps of stalwart grasses pirouette on their own. With author and naturalist, Ann Cooper, we'll walk through a sea of healthy grasses and discover originals to Colorado and the prairie.

CRANE-SPOTTING My first sighting of the elegant birds comes unexpectedly, as the final leg of the auto tour edges alongside wide meadows backed by bare-branched cottonwoods. Shivering from a chilly gust and wiping watery eyes, I suddenly comprehend that the smoke-colored blurs fading into the darkening fields are cranes. Thousands of them. Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1953. But the sandhill cranes--whose huge, three-toed feet first trod the world's wetlands at least 40 million years ago--have probably been migrating through Colorado for centuries.

MOONSTRUCK: The light of the full moon makes for perfect nighttime hiking.  There's enough illumination for you to see the trail and the beauty that surrounds you at a quiet time when few - if any - other hikers are out. And hiking at night gives you the chance to get a new perspective on your environment; you're likely to see animals that you don't during the day, and even some flora transforms at night, with blooms closing or leaves curling up.

TACKLING A "FOURTEENER": You don’t have to be an Olympic-caliber athlete to hike one of these majestic peaks. So if you’ve never been to the summit of a " Fourteener," now’s the perfect time to try. 

WINGS ALONG THE ROCKIES: Colorado is home to 250 species of butterflies, more than anywhere else in North America. George Brinkmann, retired horticulturist from the Butterfly Pavilion and former staff horticulturalist of Denver Botanic Gardens, tells us how to plant a butterfly habitat and why it's so important. 

THE LURE OF FLY-FISHING: Patience may be the end product of fly-fishing, but learning to handle the trout gingerly so that it's never damaged is a first lesson. Experts prefer barbless hooks.

UP, UP AND AWAY: As temperatures drop, balloonists gather for airborne festivals. Autumn begins the most popular season to sail over the mountains and plains, viewing scenery from the vantage point of birds. 

 

 

RENDEZVOUS WITH RAPTORS: Rehabilitating raptors is one of the environmental success stories in Colorado. Golden eagles (pictured right), turkey vultures, Swainson's hawk and American kestrels are guests of this special program. You'll meet several birds of prey caretakers from Colorado State University. 

 
 

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