By Louie Ferrera

Carol and I recently spent a week traveling around Colorado. Here are a few of my impressions 

Wildflowers

Crested Butte, Colorado is the self proclaimed “wildflower capitol of the world” and the Snodgrass Trail on the outskirts of town is its epicenter. It’s a lofty statement to claim to be the world capitol of anything but after experiencing the riotous outburst of color, shape, form and abundance that are Crested Butte’s wildflowers, I doubt that there’s anyplace in the universe that could begin to match them.

I’m a Californian, I’ve seen amazing displays of wildflowers, I know about wildflowers, but after Crested Butte I realize that I’ve seen and know nothing. We took photos, so many photos but photographs can’t even begin to describe what Carol and I experienced on the hillsides and ridge tops surrounding Crested Butte. It’s a vast canvas painted from God’s palette: oranges, pinks, yellows, reds, blues, purples, lavenders, whites and all shades and hues in between. Complimentary colors appear like magic; I never saw a shade of yellow without a shade of purple nearby. The predominant flower is a large, popsicle orange variety of daisy, in knee-high patches that cover entire hillsides. Mixed in are small, delicate, five-petal blue and purple blooms atop slender stalks. There is lupine and paint brush, wild rose and Queen Anne’s lace and of course there’s columbine, the Colorado state flower, larger and more spectacular than the kind that grow in my backyard. The sheer abundance and variety of flowers literally took my breath away! At certain spots along the trail, the colors went on as far as the eye could see. The feeling I had on our hike was similar to seeing the Grand Canyon or Yosemite for the first time, this wildflower display was on a scale that I simply had nothing to compare it to. These are WILDFLOWERS! It was awe inspiring. When Carol and I spoke to one another the only words we could muster were wow and amazing, whispering as if we were inside a cathedral.

I could look up the latin and common names of all these flowers and bore you by listing them, but what would be the point of that? Seeing these flowers is not about naming and categorizing but rather just being among them and letting their beauty wash over you. I felt great joy but small and humble too. I was just grateful to be here. I have no idea who or what “god” is but I do know that among the wildflowers of Crested Butte, I felt the presence of the divine.

Aspen Trees

The trunk of an aspen tree is bone white and telephone pole straight. The surface is marked by dark concentric rings that run the length of the tree and darker circular spots scattered among them. An aspen’s heart-shaped leaves are two-toned, the underside being several shades lighter than the top so when a breeze kicks up a shimmering light dance occurs. Countless millions of leaves flicker in time, their swishing sound is similar to that of waves receding from the shore. It is quite the experience to hike through an aspen grove while this dazzling show of light and sound is on display. In Colorado entire mountainsides are covered solely in aspen trees.

Waterfalls

waterfalls, waterfalls, waterfalls!

roiling ribbons roar

the hillside sings

Birds

As an avid birder, seeing a familiar species while traveling is like running into an old friend. On one of our hikes in the mountains a diminutive kinglet flashed its ruby crown for me and I briefly heard the unmistakable summer song of the elusive Swainson’s thrush echo through the aspen forest. A dipper did its river dance, bobbing up and down and under the water’s surface in search of aquatic insect larvae. For me, spotting a new species of bird  is one of life’s simple pleasures. In Colorado I added the spectacular Lewis’s and red-naped woodpeckers to my life list as well as the brilliant mountain bluebird, broad tailed hummingbird and blue grouse, the latter skittering through the underbrush with four babies in tow. The next time I visit Colorado, these too will be old friends.