Arriving in Colorado from Kansas or at DIA (Denver International), the “Welcome to Colorful Colorado” signs seem like an oxymoron.  However, as soon as you leave the taupe colored plains, climbing into the Rockies the colors begin to emerge.  The mountains have many different shades, especially in Summer when wildflowers abound in the cool alpine air.

My wife and I were fortunate to be visiting during one of the wettest summers in memory, so even the “taupe colored plains” were bright spring green.  Between the bright colors of the vegetation and the beautiful lighting provided by the thunderstorms every afternoon, this might’ve been one of the most photogenic summers in Colorado.

The sun’s early morning rays illuminate the “Indian Peaks” in the Roosevelt National Forest

Isabelle Glacier in the Indian Peaks Wilderness

The pond at the base of the Isabelle Glacier glows blue from glacial ice

Even ponds in the high Rockies are colorful

Wildflowers abound in the high meadows

Lupine grows freely at 11,000′ in elevation in the Arapaho National Forest

A storm brews over the skeleton of a bristcone pine in Pike National Forest.

Bristlecone below Mount Bross. The bristlecone is a remoarkable tree: they endure some of the most inhospitable conditions on earth (low rainfall, temperatures to -50F, high winds). Their toughness has made them the oldest living organisms on earth, with some trees well over 3000 years in age.

Alpenglow on Pawnee Peak above Blue Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness

Falls on South St. Vrain Creek in the Roosevelt National Forest

A mother mountain goat and her kid atop Mount Evans

US 40 Descending from the Berthoud Pass in the Arapaho National Forest