Flowers on the Hillside
Flowers on the hillside, bloomin' crazy
Crickets talkin' back and forth in rhyme
Blue river runnin' slow and lazy
I could stay with you forever
And never realize the time
- Bob Dylan, You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Paintbrush (Castilleja sp.), Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum), False Hellebore (Veratrum californicum), and purple composites (Asteraceae) gather in the shadows of late afternoon near the lower Ice Lake basin, San Juan Mountains, Colorado.
The San Juans attract a good number of visitors for the hiking, wildflowers, incredible topography, and for some, the numerous tracks open to ORV use. This particular trail requires that only muscle power be used for the ascent. To gain the lowest lake in the basin, the trail rises 1,900 feet (580 m) in 2 miles (3.2 km), proving true that the mountains are a stern taskmaster, requiring one to wear the legs out in order to give the backside a ride.
Visitation this year appears extremely high, most likely because people are not flying to cities for vacation and are choosing to camp instead due to COVID. One result is that we went searching for a first-come-first-served campsite at mid-day on a Tuesday and were unable to find a single official campsite available. I am the first to admit that this trip came together at the last minute and was therefore hastily planned; nonetheless, it seems that spontaneity and U.S. National Forest camping may be mutually exclusive for the time being. Fortunately, there are quite a few places where one can simply pull off to the side of the road and pitch a tent, so we did not go lacking for a place to sleep. However, I did neglect to bring both our small table and a shovel, so certain cooking and biological necessities were more challenging than they really needed to be. The laundry list of first-world problems can get frighteningly long...
Thanks for looking and I hope people are staying safe and healthy!
Flowers on the Hillside
Flowers on the hillside, bloomin' crazy
Crickets talkin' back and forth in rhyme
Blue river runnin' slow and lazy
I could stay with you forever
And never realize the time
- Bob Dylan, You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Paintbrush (Castilleja sp.), Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum), False Hellebore (Veratrum californicum), and purple composites (Asteraceae) gather in the shadows of late afternoon near the lower Ice Lake basin, San Juan Mountains, Colorado.
The San Juans attract a good number of visitors for the hiking, wildflowers, incredible topography, and for some, the numerous tracks open to ORV use. This particular trail requires that only muscle power be used for the ascent. To gain the lowest lake in the basin, the trail rises 1,900 feet (580 m) in 2 miles (3.2 km), proving true that the mountains are a stern taskmaster, requiring one to wear the legs out in order to give the backside a ride.
Visitation this year appears extremely high, most likely because people are not flying to cities for vacation and are choosing to camp instead due to COVID. One result is that we went searching for a first-come-first-served campsite at mid-day on a Tuesday and were unable to find a single official campsite available. I am the first to admit that this trip came together at the last minute and was therefore hastily planned; nonetheless, it seems that spontaneity and U.S. National Forest camping may be mutually exclusive for the time being. Fortunately, there are quite a few places where one can simply pull off to the side of the road and pitch a tent, so we did not go lacking for a place to sleep. However, I did neglect to bring both our small table and a shovel, so certain cooking and biological necessities were more challenging than they really needed to be. The laundry list of first-world problems can get frighteningly long...
Thanks for looking and I hope people are staying safe and healthy!