pictures.....maybe too many

Last fall I thought I would post some pics from last summer in Colorado. Never got around to it. Then, I thought on a cold miserable winter day I would post some pics from last summer in Colorado. Never did it. Here we are in full-blown spring, the sandies are thick in the creeks and what am I doing?..........posting pics from last summer in Colorado. Some of the pictures are pretty. And some are interesting. I like looking at them so I thought I would go ahead and post them and hope that you like looking at them too.

The main attraction for the summer was water. Lots of it. Heavy spring snows left a deep snow pack that fed the creeks and rivers until well into August. Here's a pic of the Roaring Fork river taken August 2nd. The flow was 1,400 cfs. That's a lot of water for August 2nd.



But even with the high water, the fishing during the month of August was great!

















Lot's of fish and lots of fun!

Here's a picture of a pretty stand of Aspen trees I drive through on the road that accesses several of the lakes I fish. In the fall they turn a beautiful gold and orange.



Well, not any more because along with lots of snow, you get avalanches. Those beautiful trees stand no more.



I will miss those trees.

And, a few wildlife photos..........

And, of course, some lake fishing. Again, these first couple of shots were early August. It's rare to find ice on these lakes that late in the summer.





But as the summer progressed, things went back to normal and we had some great lake fishing.

And then, there were the bears. Lots of bears













All of the bear shots were from around the house. I did have two close encounters in the wild but I was too busy backing away to pull out my camera.

I've got a couple of videos I might add......if I can figure out how to do it.

Beautiful. Glad you found the time to share! Did you get a new camera?

Nice cutties!

What are the red bellied fish?

Man those are some pretty fish. Love them cutties. The wildlife shots were cool my pointer Heidi misses the ptarmigan and they are tasty bird on the table.

Last year was a pretty rough one for run off I was still living up there over last winter and most drainages entered the runoff season with well above 150% snow pack. Looks to the same this year after talking with a few of my buddies still up there.

All the ice on those lakes that time of year is caused by global warming.

great pics, glad ya shared 'em!

INCREDIBLE PHOTOS!!! Thanks for sharing

No way is that too many! Thanks for posting

Awesome post! Thanks for sharing.

Awesome- looks like a great time.

How are you fishing that big water in those first pictures? I'm always confused in those situations.

you had an awesome summer!!! thanks for the pics to share.

In all my years up there, I have never seen frozen alpine lakes in August

I need to be your friend up there too.

Very interesting guys great shots and nice catches hope you had a great time

Thanks to everyone for your comments. I'm glad you enjoyed the pics.

Uncle Zeek, the red bellied fish are cutthroat trout. Often called cutties or cutts. Beautiful fish!

ZachW, during high water, I look for soft water next to shore. Pockets, inside bends in the river, submerged boulders, fallen trees, etc.

I figured out how to add videos, so here are a couple. This one is a bear up a tree across the street from the house. Not much of a video, but I got a kick out of watching the bear and maybe you will too. I've got a great camera but I'm not much of a videographer as I unintentionaly shot the video in slow-mo.



I messed around with the time-lapse feature on the camera and recorded a nice sunset.



I've got a few more that I might add.

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Shelter in place is boring. What to do, what to do? Well, how about.........

BACKSTORY: THE GOAT

Grizzly lake sits below majestic Grizzly peak about 12 miles east of Aspen. At 13,989 feet, Grizzly Peak is 11 feet shy of being a 14'er and much more well known. Although somewhat remote, Grizzly lake is on all the hiking trail maps and the folks at the fly shops won't hesitate to send customers there to catch cutts. In other words, this place is no secret. But it is an awesome hike and offers loads of 10"-12" cutts, with the occasional 14 incher. This is a hike I make at least once a summer and one I highly recommend. This is a hike for fisherman and their non-fishing partners alike. All will enjoy.

The trailhead starts at Grizzly reservoir and covers 3.6 miles to the lake. The first section of the trail, about 4/10ths of a mile, is a moderately steep hike through the trees before breaking out into a wide open gulch. The majority of the hike follows the gulch toward it's upper end and is easy with a gradual upward grade. The last 6/10ths of a mile before reaching the lake is moderately steep with some short steep sections. This section can be a real lung buster for us flat landers but slow and easy gets you to the destination. If you are moderately fit, willing and able, its worth the trek.

It was September 16th when I hiked to Grizzly and had the encounter with The Goat (3rd from the last of the wildlife photos above). Above the final switch-back on the trail is a band of cliffs. As I approached the switch-back I spotted a herd of goats on the ridge above the cliffs. For perspective (and because I like pictures) here is a picture of Grizzly peak that shows the entire area. Grizzly peak dominates the photo and if you zoom in lower-center-left you can seen the trail as it ascends the final leg to the lake. Up to the right of the trail you can see a band of cliffs and, on the ridge above, a few small snow patches. The goats were in the area near the snow patches.



You can't see the lake in the photo as it is behind the band of cliffs and below the two snow patches on the face of Grizzly peak.

While hiking, I often see goats but they are almost always too far away and in difficult or too dangerous terrain to go after with my camera. I've always wanted to gets some good shots of goats and had been looking for a good opportunity. On this day, from on the trail below the cliffs, I could see no route I could safely climb to get to the goats. So, I continued up the trail to the lake. Once there, I started fishing my way around the lake.



About half way around the lake I noticed a steep chute through the band of cliffs between me and the goats. As I had previously summited Grizzly peak and knew the area well, I assessed the chute as being climbable. I continued to fish my way around the lake to the bottom of the chute. Made another quick assessment, packed up my rod and up I went. It was steep. Very steep. In this shot (taken on a different day and from across the lake) you can see the chute, slightly to the left of the lake, cutting through the band of cliffs. The goats were on the ridge just beyond the top of the chute.



At the top of the chute, I was rewarded by an encounter with a herd of around 18 goats that seemed completely indifferent to my presence. I took tons of photos and here are a few.









I used a hiking app to record my trip and saved the track as a file. Google Earth can open these files and display the track on the terrain map. Here is a screen capture of the Google Earth display of my track.



For me, this was an awesome day. I hope you enjoy the pictures!