Now that fall has faded I've been trying to focus on the subtilty of light play on snow. I was hiking at Boulder's Chautauqua after a recent snowstorm enjoying nature's snow drift sculptures when I noticed a gem-like sparkle glinting off of the surface of the snow banks...

It was 4:30 am, an hour before dawn, and I was on my way to 8,200 ft/2500m Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. I was drawn by the vision of a sunrise on the Continental Divide reflected in the placid lake. An hour...

March 30, 2011 Mandy the Dog Update: I wag my tail in gratitude to the Boulder City Council for rejecting the recommendation to close this loop trail to dogs. As reported in The Daily Camera:

"The Boulder City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to continue...

Here in Boulder we enjoy many remarkable acts of nature. Looking skyward often offers fantastic aerial phenomena, including these striking cloud formations...

Dawn Skyshow Over The Boulder Flatirons on 12 Dec. 2010

Some could provide cover for UFO's...

Golden sentinels standing tall

up to the sky trembling limbs reach.
Graceful harbingers of the fall
shimmering leaves whisper on each.
Marching along all clothed in white
watching o'er mountain meadows high.
Bathed in heaven's soft morning light
framed against a bright cobalt sky.

...

Autumn comes early to the Colorado high country. The late bloomers can no longer compete with the crescendo of leaf color that is the finale of this season of plant life. Soon the colors will fade to brown, blue and white as a deep snowy tarp preserves the genetic potential...

I was out on a pretty hike on the Shanahan Ridge Trail on Labor Day. It was a breezy bright blue Colorado morning, which made this dark cloud seem ominously out-of-place...

My First View of Fourmile Canyon Fire September 6 @ 11:30am

Colorado has so many photogenic places to focus one's camera upon that it is easy to capture beautiful images. As a nature photographer, my...

As reported in my November 2009 post entitled "Boulder Falls Trail ... a Remembrance" the Boulder Falls Trail was indefinitely closed by the City of Boulder's Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) Department. The area was initially declared off limits after a...

Furry Pasqueflower (Anemone pulsatilla)

Front Range spring peeping is quite rewarding now, as many early plants and seeds have returned from dormancy to establish their tiny gene survival platforms -- flowers. I found all of these early bloomers on...

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Weightless, I spiral on unseen currents, loftily, without effort I leave the earth behind on a soft breeze absorbing the kissing sun up here blanketed from all sound save the soft flutter of my feathers. I oversee the earth, the continuous struggle for perspective and position, knowing my...

Sometimes the forest harbors interesting and important tales which can be revealed by asking a simple question.

I was out hiking on Boulder's Ranger Trail near the Green Mountain Lodge today and I noticed some fine black "soot" on the sunny trailside snow banks.

Subnivian Samba
Subnivian, subnivian,
That's what we've all been livin' in....
By we, I mean us little guys,
We're hidden from the winter skies.
Down in between the snow and ground,
We insects and we mice have found
A habitat that's kind...

As reported in the Daily Camera, the City of Boulder's Open Space and Mountain Parks Department has decided to indefinitely close the popular Boulder Falls Trail after finding it too expensive to fix the area's rock-fall danger. This historic spot near the confluence of the North and...

After leaf peeping around Colorado's high country I returned to one of my favorite places for fall color: Boulder's South Mesa Trail. While there are no aspens down here, the sumac are bright crimson and the grasses and shrubs are rusting.

Since the impending snow and cold will...

Now that summer is almost over I am intrigued by the fact that I have seen snow on the Continental Divide the whole season. Even on the hottest summer day in Boulder the chilly snow cones in the high country promise a cool hike in the wilderness.
...

This time of year in Boulder the black bears get so hungry they drop their shyness and make an appearance where ever they can find a good meal. They are preparing for a long winter of temporary hibernation known as torpor by chomping down about 20,000 calories per...

The wildflowers are playing out their last act of the summer here in Colorado and it is just about the time to focus on fall colors. Unlike the Eastern U.S., with its majestic maples and other colorful deciduous trees, here the primary source of fall color is our beloved Quaking...