McGregor Mountain Blog

The past couple of weeks has been pretty standard summer fare! The tourists are enjoy all the park and town have to offer, the thunderstorms make their daily appearance, the flowers are beautiful, and the bears have been making their rounds. This year, however, they seem to be a bit more active. Maybe they have some sixth sense that is telling them to get especially fat this year in preparation for a long hard winter. Or maybe they are just wanting to be annoying and troublesome! Either way, they are fun to have around as long as they don’t get into any trouble!

Out of the few that have been around, the big momma is that one that seems to wreak the most havoc. Here is her latest bit of work:

But she didn’t get into the dumpster! I guess it made her mad!

And, as I have said all summer, the flowers this year are truly spectacular. At the higher elevations, they have already come and gone, and Autumn is actually starting to show through the colors of the tundra, and even in some of the grasses near timberline. But here in the lower elevations, they are still blooming in full force. I’ve made good use of the Lumpy Ridge Trail and some trails in the forest on the east side of town, just to enjoy the wild flowers! We even went out and picked about 5 cups of wild raspberries and made some incredible raspberry jam from our pickings! This is a glorious time to be in Colorado!

And the reason for putting snow in the title; there was actually a light dusting of snow above, what looked like, around 13,000 feet this morning. Fall is on it’s way! Another perfect time to visit the area… elk bugling and the gold of the aspen leaves dotting the mountainsides. If you can, get up here, it is and is going to be spectacular!

The past couple of days have been rare for us here in the high country of Colorado, in July anyway. Rain and temps in the 50’s. But it makes for a great change of scenery, as the mountain smells and drama of the landscape are very much intensified! It even snowed above 11,000 feet last night, leaving the mountains capped in a fresh layer of white! I’m hoping to get out in a minute for some more photography, but we’ll have to see! The rain keeps coming. The elk in the picture above spent the morning grazing the property and the afternoon napping on the mountainside above.

Enjoy!

Michael