Sunday September 20, 2009-Priest Gulch campground

Today we went on or mountain trail ride on the Roaring Forks trail, accompanied by our friends Tommy and Susan in their Jeep and Gene and Linda who are from Austin in their pickup truck. This photo is just a preview to some of the beautiful scenery that we saw today. The leaves are beginning to change color but there will be much more to come before we leave.

This is a parking area with the snow-topped peaks in the background. Winter will be coming to this area soon, and we are already having low temperatures in the 30's now.

I'm sorry that this photo is out of sequence of the trip. This is Trout Lake, taken as we were returning to the park, where we spent some time with our fishing friends. As you can see, the Aspen trees are changing and there is more snow in the mountains, making the lake look different than what we saw when they were fishing here.

More snow-topped mountains that are shrouded in clouds. I am sure that this lake freezes over in the winter. I can only imagine what this looks like in the winter. I'm not sure whether this 'ol south Texas boy could take the temperatures and the amount of snow in this area so I'll probably never find out what it looks like.

Going down the road and seeing the golden leaves. I can't wait until we see even more of this before we leave.

Back to the mountains. These photos do not do justice to the beauty of this area. I urge anyone that is into the beauty of nature to come to the Priest Gulch campground or at least to southwest Colorado. There is plenty to do in the area and of course I can't get enough of the scenery.

The tall trees look like matchsticks with foliage at the top. Soon it will be gold at the tops, and I hope to be here at the peak of their beauty.

Here is a shot out over the treetops with mountains and blue skies in the background. You really have to be here to appreciate the breathtaking beauty!

Here is one lone Aspen tree that is exploding with color. The leaves will turn golden before falling, and I want to see them!

Here is a large group of Aspen trees in their color.

This illustrates the contrast of the evergreen pine trees with the changing colors of the aspens. The brilliant blue skies and white clouds only accentuates the colors of the trees.

More aspens that are beginning to change.

This is a ski lift near Purgatory. The lift is not open to the public now, but employees ride it to check out the system.

More treetops with snow covered mountains in the background.

One thing that happened on the trip that wasn't photographed was that we ran into a storm in the mountains. We stopped in Silverton for lunch at the Handlebars restaurant, and while there it began to rain with some sleet. We waited it out inside the warm restaurant and continued our drive up into the mountains. Traveling up the "million dollar highway" into Ouray Colorado, we ran into a storm that included sleet, high winds and the strangest looking clouds we have seen. The winds knocked a large tree trunk off into the road, halting traffic. Some men dragged the heavy trunk off the road and we were able to go on with our drive. Just ahead of us was a truck towing a fifth wheel trailer. I noticed the trailer swaying as the winds hit them, and I was glad that it wasn't us trying to drive in this weather.

We took two more trails, the Last Dollar trail and the Ilium trail which took us to Telluride CO where we got back on the highway back to the park.

When we got back to the park, we spent a little time cleaning up the trucks, which were covered with red dirt off the mountains. We were tired and ready for our recliners when we got through. Gene and Linda built a fire in their firepit but we didn't get to enjoy it for long because of more rain. We learned that it had rained for about two hours earlier in the day, so we chose a good day to go for our ride.

So long.