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FrontRangeLiving.com -> Outdoors -> High Points
 HIGH POINTS: A GUIDE TO THE FRONT RANGE ALPINE AND
SUBALPINE TREASURES
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 a prime destination for alpine plants. Guanella Pass and Boreas Pass must be
included for subalpine natural rock gardens, too.
At Trailridge, alpine forget-me-nots and dwarf clover make
up a few of the most exquisite late spring, early summer blooms. You’ll have
to get down on hands and knees to fully appreciate such diminutive plants.
Summit Lake is the best place to see the stonecrop family of king and queen’s
crown. The hike at Guanella Pass follows an old road flanked on both sides by
willow shrubs, sulphur paintbrushes, chiming bells, old-man-of-the-mountain
sunflowers, bistort and elephant’s heads. At Boreas Pass you’ll find more
sedges, grasses and an astonishing array of blue and white columbine springing
from rocks—a classic natural rock garden.
It’s impossible not to be enchanted by our alpine
gardens, some so lush a square yard may be filled with dozens of tiny specimens.
Along the Front Range, inspired gardeners construct berms to create quick
drainage, covering the surface with pebbles. Some graduate to troughs with just
the right mix of grit and dirt to duplicate what nature offers at high altitude.
Of course, for gardeners who live in the mountains, a rock garden is easiest of
all to nurture.
 The Denver Botanic Garden has staked much of its reputation
on its high-altitude gardens, which feature plants from other lofty places like
the Himalayas. The plants are not interchangeable because our Rocky Mountains
may have alkaline soils while other mountains may be more acidic. What the
gardens do have in common is a tendency to shelter tiny plants that have
tenacious roots to withstand cold and fierce winds. And while the flowering
plants may produce seeds, many alpines rely on roots extending through the soil
and setting up a new plant. Seeds, it appears, are so iffy in a severe climate.
But this is the very reason why plants may exist only in
small pockets or spread slowly in the space of a hundred years. Tundra plants
that are damaged take forever to repair themselves. Visit Summit Lake and
you’ll bemoan the social trails. There’s no laws prohibiting hikers from
setting off anywhere on the tundra. The consequence is denuded areas and trails
going off in a myriad of directions. The damage is alarming.
Trailridge offers better protection and has paved hiking
paths for visitors. Even so, hundreds of unthinking people trample tiny cushion
plants underfoot by striding off trail. Signs prohibiting off-trail hiking
rarely deter them.
 Mount
Goliath, like its namesake, is biblical in age and giant in proportion. But here
the comparison ends. This giant is closer to science fiction, an unworldly realm
with Lilliputian alpine plants and ancient bone yards of gnarled bristlecone
pine trunks. From a distance, the head of the old giant may look bald, but a
close investigation reveals a carpet of plants uniquely suited to cold, windy,
dry tundra.
Strolling
the back of Mount Goliath along the M. Walter Pesman Trail unveils a unique
world--bizarre and exotic--in our own backyard. Here, the ancient mingles with
the ephemeral. Bristlecone pines estimated to be 1500 to 2000 years old twist
and writhe to the hardships of wind and drought. Over 100 species of wildflowers
blanket the hillsides in a flush of bloom defying the abbreviated summer.
Butterflies and flies assist frantically to pollinate. With only 40 days for
alpines to bloom and reproduce, the mission in July becomes urgent. It's no
wonder that alpines have learned to grow by spreading roots underground. The
chances of a seed surviving and finding hospitable ground are slim.
While
Denver's summer temperature broils at 89 degrees, temperature at the summit is
40. We've slathered on sun block, a necessary precaution when hiking at an
elevation of 12,500 feet in direct sun. We have plenty of water. The hike down
the trail is about 1.5 miles of steep and rocky terrain, but it's not difficult.
Start at the top, which is far easier than hiking up from the bottom. We'll take
our time, possibly crouching on hands and knees from time to time with a hand
lens, observing the tiniest plants. Our guides are volunteers from the Denver
Botanic Gardens. Today they will escort 21 hikers down the trail in a search of
each and every species in bloom. We begin on the west side of the mountain,
where conditions are harsh and only the hardiest survive. On the east side, the
same alpines will be a bit taller and fuller as we enter the bristlecone forest.
The narrow trail dates to 1948 and despite the passage of years, requires us to
be single file. We're advised to stay on it closely. Tundra is delicate and
easily damaged. Once destroyed, revival is chancy.
 "We'll
see alpine avens everywhere," our guide says. And sure enough, the perky
yellow flowers cascade down the hillside. "Most of these plants you'll
notice are mat or cushion and may take 15 years to reach even a small size.
They've adapted to the environment by developing leaves that conserve water,
they're also close to the ground because of the wind," she says. Some are
compact, thickly leaved or hairy plants, almost like fur on the back of an
animal. The mountainside is pure tundra, with the look of a huge rock garden.
Moss campion clusters of tiny pink blossoms cover a prickly mound. It's from the
carnation family and the common name, "pink" comes from the toothed
edges of the flower petals, as if they have been cut by pinking shears.
In
contrast, the alpine big root spring beauty develops into an elegant rosette,
surrounded by tiny flowerets. It's not obvious how it thrives with its tender,
shiny dark green leaves, until our guide reveals the trick: a long taproot. This
graceful alpine is so hardy that it can be found nearly to the top of Mount
Evans, a good 2,000 feet in elevation from where we stand.
A
departure from the mat and cushion plants is the American bistort, a white
fluffy flower on a tall, slender stem. Like a miniature bottlebrush waving
bravely in the wind, the bistort defies rules for alpine survival. Nearly six
inches or more in height, it shows off a bit of stature. The bistort serves as
an important nutrient source for alpine animals. Some call it elk fodder. In
earlier centuries, Cheyenne and Blackfoot tribes used the root as an emergency
food in times of scarcity.
The
trail is a laboratory of discovery. Those among us who are gardeners begin to
point out familiar blossoms. There's the alpine Geyer's onion from the Allium
family, which also brings us ornamental onions, chives and garlic. We'll see an
aster, sunflower, goldenrod, clover, penstemon, daisy, stonecrop and yarrow--all
related to the perennials gardeners tend at lower elevations. These are
unmistakable in form, but miniaturized. Their blossoms far outweigh the tiny
leaves. We pass by a dwarf clover beginning to reveal pink petals most easily
seen with a magnifying lens.
 The
most common sunflower is called old-man-of-the-mountain or alpine sunflower. At
only a few inches high, it's a relative to the six-foot prairie sunflower. The
yellow petals and plump pollen-laden center are recognized instantly. Lanceleaf
chiming bells dot the hillside with their blue bell clusters. Colors are vivid
in an alpine landscape, and while most of the flowers are white or yellow on
this day, the blues and purples catch our attention. Tiny, cupped blue flowers
called harebells look familiar. They're cousins to Canterbury bells, and other
members of the campanula family so widely grown in gardens everywhere. Here the
petals are thin membranes, the bells dwarfed to the size of a kitten's ear.
Yellow stonecrop looks much like our Front Range succulents, with a fleshy stem
and clusters of buds.
 Other
plants appear to be unique. Elephant's head grows from a spike of magenta
flowers, each resembling the shape of an elephant's trunk and ears. Purple
fringe, also on a spike, sends out a silky collection of fine hairs. A deep red
cluster on a delicate stem tops the king's crown, a favorite of all wildflower
lovers. At slightly lower elevation, we'll find a queen's crown, which is
cone-shaped in a rosy pink. A wooly thistle bristles with stickers. It's also
from the sunflower family but offers only a large round globe for a flower and
stiff, hairy leaves tipped by a thorn. And wallflowers, usually bright
orange-yellow clusters in mountain meadows, are purple at this altitude. The
paintbrush is a red-tipped flower found at lower elevations. Here we see several
kinds. The rosy paintbrush is pink-tipped and the western paintbrush is yellow,
almost a creamy chartreuse. Penstemons differ, too. Whipple's penstemon may be
white or a deep purple, the long trumpets pendulous for such a fragile, arching
stem. Heading down the trail we'll find the low penstemon, with brilliant blue
trumpets, nestled in the rock garden at the foot of the trail.
Granite
rocks jut from the hillside. Green, rust and yellow lichen blend with the
speckled granite into a soft palette of pastels. It's easy to overlook the most
miniature and subdued plants, which blend into the gravelly soil.
Like the surrounding soil, our path is crushed stone, the scree, or
pulverized rock that indicates little nourishment for plants, but plenty of
drainage. Such a spare landscape provides only a few amenities. Rocky ledges
offer a haven for butterflies. Hawks circle above for unwary rodents, which have
deep burrows between rocks. There are few sounds other than the wind and fewer
sightings of animals by mid-day. We're in a world that has been claimed by
plants that spread like a sea, with rocks as islands.
 But
nothing growing in this landscape is as miraculous as the bristlecone pines.
Midway along the trail, bristlecones starkly outline an outlandish forest. We
touch their chocolate-colored cones, sticky with resin. There's a resin residue,
which serves as a preservative, on the needles as well. These pines won't live
to such advanced ages below timberline because they thrive best in drought and
sun. Other bristlecone forests exist in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and
California. But some botanists believe those trees to be a different species.
Despite their tortured appearances, the bristlecones are healthy. Most survive
with only the thinnest strip of cambium--the layer of arteries that send
nourishment up a tree. A litter of dead trunks like sculpture in an odd garden
are strewn not far from their living relatives.
As
we descend into a lower elevation, a spruce forest takes over. Under the shelter
of lower branches, we spy the Rocky Mountain alpine columbine and Jacob's
ladder. A few ferns have taken shelter in a rock crevice. This is an area of
moisture and shade; it's an abrupt change, as if an invisible line has been
drawn.
 We
end at the rock garden by the foot of the trail. It's still being worked on. The
idea is to have one of every plant that grows along the trail. Here we can find
the queen's crown, and a neon yellow Kluane poppy. In 1998, landscape designers
Zdenek Zvolnek from the Czech Republic and Joyce Carruthers from Wales created
two small gardens. This is the place to search for dwarf columbine and other
rare species.
As
spectacular as these tiny alpines may be, it's not easy to grow them outside
their mountain conditions. Chiming bells, deathcamas, wallflower, yarrow and
yellow stonecrop grow over the widest terrain, but all alpines are uniquely
suited to a specific environment, sometimes only to a small area. That's all the
more reason to journey to Mount Goliath, where you'll discover nature's
affirmation that small is beautiful--and often tenaciously hardy, too.
Mountain
goats are the big draw at the top of Mount Evans. They hang around the visitors
center and show up each afternoon in mid-summer. The mountain also is home to
snowshoe hares, yellow-bellied marmots and pikas. If you’re very lucky you
might spy a white-tailed ptarmigan, but I have better luck seeing those at Rocky
Mountain National Park, Guanella Pass and Arapaho Pass. Bighorn sheep can be
found here, too, but not easily. The mountain goats have pushed the sheep out of
their traditional territory. Summit Lake is the location for brown-capped rosy
finches, American pipits, ravens, white-crowned sparrows and prairie falcons.
Trail Information
Summit Lake, Mt
Evans Wilderness
Directions:
From Idaho Springs (I-70) take exit 240 and proceed south on Colorado 103 for 13
miles. At Echo Lake, turn south onto Colorado 5 (this is the start of the Mt
Evans fee area). You’ll reach Summit Lake 10 miles up. The parking lot is at 39.5987N,
105.6406W.
Features: The glacial lake sits at 12,800 feet and is a
laboratory for alpine plants. Check out the abundant king’s crown and
queen’s crown. There is one main trail around the lake (1.5 miles) and many
smaller social trails, all providing overlooks of the surrounding peaks. It’s
quite likely that you’ll spot marmots and mountain goats.
More Info: US
Forest Service, Clear Creek Ranger District, PO Box 3307, Idaho Springs, CO
80452, 303-567-3000, http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf/recreation/scenic-drives/ccrd/mountevans.shtml
M. Walter Pesman
Trail, Mt Evans Wilderness
Directions:
From Idaho Springs (I-70) take exit 240 and proceed south on Colorado 103 for 13
miles. At Echo Lake, turn south onto Colorado 5 (this is the start of the Mt
Evans fee area). You’ll reach the end of the M. Walter Pesman trail at the new
nature center at mile 3; the start of the trail is at the pullout at mile 5. The
upper trailhead is at 39.6424N, 105.5928W.
Features:
Arrange to have transport at the trail’s end and this becomes an easy 1.5-mile
downhill hike. If not, it’s a 3-mile (round trip) out-and-back with a 600-foot
elevation difference. This may not seem like much, but climbing is tougher at
12,000 feet. The higher portions of the trail, above tree line, feature natural
alpine rock gardens. As the trail descends, you enter an ancient bristlecone
pine forest, some of which are thousands of years old. Try to catch one of the
summer-guided tours of the trail sponsored by the Denver Botanic Gardens. Call
720-865-3565.
More
Info: US Forest Service, Clear Creek Ranger District, PO Box 3307, Idaho
Springs, CO 80452, 303-567-3000, http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf/recreation/scenic-drives/ccrd/mountgoliath.shtml.
Guanella Pass
Directions: From Georgetown (I-70, exit 228), make your way
to the south end of town. Catch Guanella Pass Road at the top of 2nd
Street. Guanella Pass Road is partially paved, partially dirt, but these days
it’s well maintained. Guanella Pass is at mile 10. The parking area is at
39.5958N, 105.7116W.
Features: The pass has significant wetlands and willows,
providing forage and protection for a number of hikes from the pass. My favorite
hikes include:
- Mt
Bierstadt – One of Colorado’s most accessible 14ers. The hike is
strenuous -- 6 miles round trip, 2350-foot gain, all above tree line. The
views at the top are pretty special.
- Square
Top Lakes – A moderate, 3.3 mile round trip hike with a modest 550-foot
gain. The first half of the hike is through wet areas and willows – ideal
habitat for wildflowers and birds.
- Naylor
Lake – Similar to Square Top, this moderate, 3.2 mile round trip hike
follows willows and wetlands with a minor climb to the lake. Wonderful
wildflowers.
More Info: US
Forest Service, Clear Creek Ranger District, PO Box 3307, Idaho Springs, CO
80452, 303-567-3000, http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/recreation/sight_seeing/spl_scenic.shtml.
Boreas Pass
- Directions:
From Como (9.3 miles north of Fairplay on US-285) follow signs north to
Boreas Pass Road (CR-33). The road is dirt, well maintained and gradual as
it climbs the 11 miles to the pass. The pass has a small parking area at
39.4105N, 105.9689W.
- From
Breckenridge take CO-9 south, looking for Boreas Pass Road (CR-10) on the
east. The Boreas Pass Road turnoff is well marked and is within ½ mile of
the center of Breckenridge. The pass is 9.6 miles up.
Features:
A lot of the Boreas experience is on the drive up. From the south, the views of
the high prairie in South Park and the near-14er Mount Silverheels are well
worth the drive. Along the way stands of wildflowers speckle the hillsides.
You’ll even find columbines flourishing in unlikely places on the side of the
road. At the pass a short hike west to Hoosier Ridge (1 mile out-and-back,
500-foot gain) leads you through a meadow of grasses and flowers.
More Info: US Forest Service South Park Ranger District, PO
Box 219, Fairplay, CO 80440, 719-836-2031, http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/sopa/boreas.shtml.
Rocky Mountain
National Park – Trail Ridge Tundra
Directions: Start a tour of the tundra at the Alpine
Visitors Center on Trail Ridge Road at Fall River Pass. Trail Ridge is a
seasonal road; call RMNP to make sure it’s open.
- From
Estes Park, take US 36 west to the Beaver Meadows Entrance. Take Trail Ridge
Road for 20 miles to the Alpine Visitor Center at 40.4413N, 105.7539W.
- From
Grand Lake, take US 34 (Trail Ridge Road) north for 21.6 miles to the
visitor center.
Features: Pick up tundra trail maps and brochures and start
with a ranger-led walk at the trail right outside the Alpine Visitor Center.
It’s only ½ mile (out-and-back) but you’re at 12,000 feet. From the Visitor
Center, head down Trail Ridge east to the numerous pullouts and tundra overlooks
where you’ll find not-to-be-missed trails through spectacular alpine gardens.
These are fragile, tiny, ancient gardens and the trails are constructed to both
protect them and get you up close. This memorable drive is not to be missed.
More Info: Rocky Mountain National Park, 1000 Highway 36,
Estes Park, CO 80517, 970-586-1206, http://www.nps.gov/romo.
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