9/29/10 Traveling north thru the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, we stopped early yesterday at Little Molas Lake NFS campsite, just past Molas Pass, elevation 10,900’, almost at tree line.
The lake, more like a deep mountain pond, is wrapped on all sides by 13,000’ mountains. The Colorado Trail, a hiking trail from Durango to Denver, skirts the side of the pond. Spruce, fir, and pinion pine scatter in the campground and on the near hills as they climb to tree line. Hillside mountain meadows fill in around and under the trees.
In the quiet of the morning the pond reflected hills and mountains, trees and sky with absolute, pure, still precision… two worlds – the same and wonderful. Back lit feather tops of grasses floated above other vegetation in the open meadows. Ground level blueberries, leaves turned vermillion, irradiated the ground cover while tall seed stocks of lupin-like plants stood straight and tall in the mornings sun.
Walking on the Colorado Trail, slowly while still adjusting to altitude (that’s altitude adjustment, not attitude adjustment), I was blessed with the intense quiet of the awakening day, the feeling of the sun penetrating the night’s cold and warming me thru layers of fleece, and the colors of fall, yellows and reds, which have entered our journey.
We may stay here one more night, a time to again see the brilliant pin point stars of early dark, the late night half moon that dulls the milky way, and the morning rise of daylight, returning us to a world of color and form and reflection.
There is a lot of Colorado and the west yet to travel, but right now nothing seems more complete than this tiny pond in its immense mountain hollow. Time stands still here. One has only to breathe the air and watch the moon settle down to the west against the clear blue sky of day. Hallelujah!
The lake, more like a deep mountain pond, is wrapped on all sides by 13,000’ mountains. The Colorado Trail, a hiking trail from Durango to Denver, skirts the side of the pond. Spruce, fir, and pinion pine scatter in the campground and on the near hills as they climb to tree line. Hillside mountain meadows fill in around and under the trees.
In the quiet of the morning the pond reflected hills and mountains, trees and sky with absolute, pure, still precision… two worlds – the same and wonderful. Back lit feather tops of grasses floated above other vegetation in the open meadows. Ground level blueberries, leaves turned vermillion, irradiated the ground cover while tall seed stocks of lupin-like plants stood straight and tall in the mornings sun.
Walking on the Colorado Trail, slowly while still adjusting to altitude (that’s altitude adjustment, not attitude adjustment), I was blessed with the intense quiet of the awakening day, the feeling of the sun penetrating the night’s cold and warming me thru layers of fleece, and the colors of fall, yellows and reds, which have entered our journey.
We may stay here one more night, a time to again see the brilliant pin point stars of early dark, the late night half moon that dulls the milky way, and the morning rise of daylight, returning us to a world of color and form and reflection.
There is a lot of Colorado and the west yet to travel, but right now nothing seems more complete than this tiny pond in its immense mountain hollow. Time stands still here. One has only to breathe the air and watch the moon settle down to the west against the clear blue sky of day. Hallelujah!
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