Leaf Peeping

Yep, that's right: Leaf Peeping. I had never heard the term until this season, and I think it sounds pretty ridiculous. But the act of hiking through fall foliage is less ridiculous, and actually quite fun!

A few weeks ago, we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park to take a familiar hike. Of course, things looks quite a bit different without the few feet of snow on the ground.

Aspens and evergreens.

I'm hiking!

Our end destination, Mill's Lake, was much less frozen than the last time we were there. That meant we couldn't go traipsing out into the middle of the lake this time. At least it was awfully pretty from the shore.

The only not-great part about the pretty hike was that the Park is BUSY during leaf peeping season. We managed to see a little wildlife:

A chipmunk, with a GIANT mushroom in his mouth. It was pretty hilarious.

But for the most part, we only saw people. Lots of people. So instead of taking the same path as our winter wonderland hike and continuing up to Loch Vale, we were content to get a little further away from tourists and call it a day.

Luckily, on the way down the trail, we were able to catch a few spots in between crowds to get some more pictures of the foliage. Looking through the pictures, you'd never know that there were so many people around us!

Small aspen grove with mixed greens and yellows.

For the following pictures, keep in mind that I'm not a photographer. I just wanted pictures of the pretty colors, and I realize that my composition may be a little off. Oh, well.

At the end of the trail.

Despite the crowds and my poor picture-taking abilities, we got to see some beautiful fall colors. And the following weekend, we tried again. This time we headed up Crosier Mountain. We saw fewer people (by a lot - the trail was practically deserted) and we had our photographer friend, Dave, along to do the foliage some real justice. Unfortunately, we were a little low in elevation to get the good color we were looking for. But hey, it was still hiking. And we like hiking.

The last of the summer flowers. A harebell, my favorite.

A tiny bit of color. And Dave.

The guys amid the green aspens. Sadness (that the aspens are green, not that it's a picture of the guys).


A little bit of yellow toward the top.

While we didn't see a lot of color, we still got to summit a mountain! We hadn't been on a summit hike all season, and in case you were wondering, sitting on your butt doing homework all summer does not prepare you to summit a mountain. There were a couple of moments where I wasn't sure I'd make it. But make it I did. And without homework to get in the way next summer, I'm vowing to summit at least five mountains. At least.

Anyway...

At the summit.

Proof that I made it.

Resting.

"I am all that is man!"

So, the whole peeping at leaves thing turned out to be pretty cool. The leaves around Denver are finally starting to turn, making me almost ready for fall. I'm never really ready to say good-bye to summer, but I suppose the pretty fall colors makes it a little easier.