At the beginning of October, we drove north to Colorado to see friends in Denver and hike in the mountains. We traipsed along at Red Rocks and got caught in a few rainstorms in the city parks. It never rains like this, my friend told me as we raced for the shelter of the car. Rain in Denver turned to snow at higher altitudes and a few days later as we drove south towards Leadville and then Buena Vista, we were rewarded with snow covered peaks, Mt. Massive and Mt. Elbert included.

a dog and person run towards Turquoise Lake

A blue heeler stares at the lake and fall mountains

A blue heeler gets a stick from an alpine lake

A hiker walks on a beach towards snow covered Mt. Elbert

A hiker and dog admire the view of snow covered mountains and an alpine lake in Colorado

A yellow tree in front of a blue lake and snow covered peaks

The sun came out as we circled the lake, melting some of the snow, burning the heavy clouds away. The next morning we hiked near Buena Vista, in between the peaks of Harvard and Yale, to a high mountain meadow and a small alpine lake, alone on the trail save for a handful of trail runners. I want to do that, Silas and I said to each other at the same time after a runner passed us by. A few moments later, the runner stepped lightly back to us, There’s a porcupine on the trail, watch out, and was off again. Our dog met one once before, on a coastal trail in Nova Scotia, not quite a face to face standoff, but she still caught a stray needle from the ground in her cheek, and we were happy to be of assistance.

snow dusted mountain near Buena Vista Colorado

All photos by me, Becca Grady, 2022.