I appreciate the woodland areas of the mountains, but always feel a little closed in when I’m in them. I really like to see the sky…

We rented a cabin south of Idaho Springs, Colorado for our vacation week. The highlight of the cabin was the beautiful stream that flowed nearby.

After giving ourselves a day to adjust to the altitude, we took a long hike on the Arapaho Pass Trail near Nederland, Colorado. The wildflowers in the meadows were fantastic, and made a prairie ecologist feel at home.

I know the plant species in my prairies really well, and can often identify at least 50-75% of the plants I see in other prairies in the central U.S. However, in the sub-alpine and alpine meadows of the Rockies, I’m lucky to guess the genus correctly… For example, I know this red flower is a Castilleja species (Indian paintbrush) but don’t know which species it is.

Above treeline on the Arapaho Pass trail there were some very cold, but very pretty streams winding through the sparse rocky landscape.

My son John hikes the trail toward Arapaho Pass.

My daughter Anna had to hold on to her hat when we finally reached the top of the Pass. The wind coming across the Continental Divide was enough to knock us over.  (Official elevation = 11,907 ft)

One morning, I took a short steep hike to the top of a nearby ridge to catch the morning light.  I needed to get out of the trees and up into the sunshine…

At the top of the ridge, there were several least chipmunks running around among the rocks. I sat and watched them for a little while and managed to get a few photos as they sat in the sunshine to eat.

We drove up to the top of the 14,000 foot Mount Evans one afternoon. This photo shows the aptly named Lake Abyss below.

On the lower slopes of Mount Evans, we saw a group of shaggy bighorn sheep grazing in a meadow.

On the way back from the top of Mount Evans, we stopped at Summit Lake and hiked a little way up the steep trail toward Mount Spalding.

From the trail to Mount Spalding, we had numerous spectacular views of the Chicago Lakes below.

On our last hike of the trip, we took a one hour climb up Chief Mountain to enjoy the panoramic views from the top.

As someone who spends a lot of time admiring the toughness of prairie plants and animals, I could easily appreciate the ability of species to eke out a living among the rocks at high altitude.  (Chief Mountain)

Though our cabin was nestled among the trees on the side of a mountain, we did have a nice open view of the sky to the north – something I was very glad for. It was a great week, but it’s really nice to be down in the prairies again.