Colorado Pics! (Castle Rock, Golden, Estes Park: how much, school, garden)

[tao]

[CelticLady1]

Could someone make this thread a sticky, or whatever you call it? I really like the pictures, and I'd like to see this stay at the top, so it's always easy to find. The New Mexico forum has this type of thread. Great pictures over there, also. By the way, Tao, where were your pictures taken? They're beautiful!

[tao]

Originally Posted by CelticLady1

Tao, where were your pictures taken? They're beautiful!

Thanks! They were all taken at Rocky Mountain National Park.

[suzco]

Read this at the Colorado Department of wildlife site, specifically about the Mt Evans road http://wildlife.state.co.us/WildlifeSpecies/LivingWithWildlife/JunkFood.htmPlease—Only (broken link)

"Our Natural Foods!
Drive up the Mount Evans Road just about any summer weekend, and you’ll see bighorn sheep—lambs and all—ready to romp onto the road as cars approach. The bighorns head straight for the car windows, often crossing right in front of the grills of four-wheel drive vehicles. These wild animals show no fear of vehicles or the people inside. The bighorns have learned they can get cookies, chips and other goodies from behind those car windows. We all know junk food is bad for people, but it’s even worse for wild animals. The complex digestive systems of wildlife have evolved over thousands of years. Deer, elk, and pronghorn are ruminants. That means they have a four-chambered stomach that serves as a 'fermentation vat'. They can eat lots of vegetation and digest it very thoroughly. Unlike natural foods, treats from people often cannot be digested properly by big game. In fact, "human food" can, in many cases, stop a wild animal’s digestive system, causing it to get sick and die.
Big game depend entirely on native vegetation, such as grasses, forbs, and shrubs. Those plants provide all the nutritional requirements the animals need to survive in Colorado, even through winter. Eating non-natural kinds of foods can result in nutritional problems for wildlife—or even death."

[tao]

[tao]

[CelticLady1]

Thank you, Tao! Great pictures! That looks to be a church in the second picture, (of the first group you posted). Is it still in use? And, are all the pictures still from the Rocky Mountain National Park, like the very first ones you put up? What a place! And, how fortunate you are, to see it all first-hand!

[tao]

The church is St. Malo Chapel in Allenspark near Mt. Meeker and Longs Peak. It's really pretty inside as well. I'm not sure if they do Sunday services there but you can rent it out for weddings.

The last pic in that group is of Chautauqua Park in Boulder. The rest in that group are shots of Rocky Mountain National Park.

The most recently posted set of pics are of Red Rock Lake and Brainard Lake (from the Brainard Lake Recreation Area which is a few miles west of Ward and north of Nederland) and the trees on the rocky cliffs shot was taken from the side of the road on Hwy 72 (the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway).

[Charles]

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Springs. Broadmoor Hotel and unused ski runs in the foreground.

Cheyenne Mountain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Charles]

Palmer Divide, Colorado