McGregor Mountain Blog

Today is the first day that it *really* feels like fall! It was in the 30’s this morning and was cold and windy all day long with the high in the low 60’s. On some recent hikes, some sporadic color is already showing up in the Glacier Gorge area of Rocky Mountain National Park. Before long we will be in the midst of our beautiful fall foliage! There are still some openings in early October, so if you want to see the color and experience the elk rut, there is still time to book!

And as far as wildlife goes, the biggest  thing happening on the property as of the last few days are pine cone bombs! Pine cones have been dropping out of the sky in record numbers as we have a small family of chickarees, or pine squirrels, that now call McGregor home. It was really funny the other day. There was a little boy standing under one of the big trees near the playground. I kept hearing what sounded like rocks hitting the picnic shelter and the picnic tables. I looked outside to see the little boy just standing there looking up in the trees, then heard his mom yell at him to quit throwing things. He’d reply saying that they were just falling out of the trees! His mother just didn’t understand and kept demanding he quit throwing things. He kept proclaiming his innocence until his mother finally made him go inside! Poor little guy! Well, I have proof of his innocence! The chickaree climbs to the highest part of the tree and bites off the pine cones, throwing them to the ground below. These are the dense, new pine cones, still green and not light, brown and dried out, so they really fall fast and sound like a rock when they hit. So the little squirrels make quite the commotion when they start shucking these pine comes from high above. They then scamper down and collect them, one by one. I guess to bring them into their dens for a winter time cache.

Here is the video I managed to capture… Enjoy!

Michael

With mid-summer upon us, we are all getting spoiled with our mountain paradise! The weather this season has been cool and calm, with the past week bringing rain showers every afternoon. These are more than our typical afternoon thunder bangers, these are storms that leave the skies overcast with prolonged showers that gently rain on us for hours. In a way, it’s kind of nice as it’s definitely a change from what we are used to. It’s so rare to have a truly rainy day here in Colorado and it feels nice to have something a little different for a spell. And the flowers! WOW!

If you are on the fence about coming up here, hop on over as the flowers are the best we have seen in 10 years or more! Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the good fortune of being able to be back in some amazing places and I have been forced to stand in complete awe! Along the divide the tundra is still alive with color; in upper Glacier Gorge there are more Columbine’s than you can possibly imagine, I guarantee that your imagination can’t contain the number of flowers we saw last last Tuesday; below Black Lake the carpet of color is breathtaking; and in Wild Basin (Lion Lake #1) you enter a literal paradise of terrain, water, and color. I wish I could explain to you just what it’s like out there right now. If I could adequately portray, you would, no doubt, do anything and everything to get out here and experience it for yourself!

I went out today and snapped a few pics of some flowers around the property. These, however, don’t hold a candle to what the park is displaying right now.

And here is a little trip report that you may enjoy from one of my adventures last week… not any pictures of flowers, but some good high country adventure that you Rocky lovers will appreciate! Click HERE!

Enjoy!

Michael