Moving to a new home means lots to do. For me finding a chiropractor is top priority–it is a life-long issue. Moving to a new state means visiting DMV–for hours. Registering for upcoming elections, unpacking and stowing boxes, organizing everything everywhere, getting insurance squared away, finding fave food stores, cafes, and good local coffee, well, you get the idea. I’ve lived here just over two weeks, still busy settling in, but the mountains are calling! It is autumn in Colorado, world-famous for glorious golden quaking aspens. Only 40 minutes to Mueller State Park, just the other side of Pikes Peak. Let’s take a break from the mundane and revel in nature’s glorious fall show!
Mueller State Park is 24 miles west and 4 miles south yet a world away. The average elevation is about 9,400 feet, 3,000 feet higher than home. Don’t worry, we will walk slow because we both will be huffing and puffing in the thinner air. The park covers over 5,000 acres with 55 miles of trails, with many shorter trail combinations making interesting loops. Through my travels, I have come to love state parks. Unlike their National Park and Monument relatives, they are smaller and more intimate, more accessible, gorgeous, and MUCH less crowded. I often visited Missouri Headwaters State Park in Montana and loved Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah. Never underestimate the “little guys”.
Arriving at the Visitor Center/Nature Center, we see layer on layer of mountains to our west . . .
. . . and south.
Today we are walking to the top of Grouse Mountain. Sounds daunting but it is only a 200 ft. climb over .8 mile and great views are promised. We will decide for ourselves. 😉 But before we get started, lets do a short nature walk here by the Visitor Center. There are lots of signs for plants, trees, wildlife habitat, but we are here to see gold.
The trailhead for Grouse Mountain is at the end of the impressive park campground. Finding the trailhead is a bit of a challenge though, with a maze of one-way roads twisting and turning across each other. Ah, found it.
Starting up the trail, this kiosk tells us to be on the lookout for turkeys and grouse. No such luck today, but it is a beautiful Saturday so encountering more people than on my usual weekday travels. We have seen grouse a few times in Yellowstone. You remember, the bird that blends so well you don’t see it until your next step will be on it, flushing it into wild flight so close it scares the ever-loving daylights out of you! I think they get a kick out of that, probably sharing stories nightly with friends vying for the best scare result of the day. Hmmm . . .
The blue grouse species has been split into two different species after DNA testing in 2006. The Sooty Grouse found in the Sierra Nevada and Pacific Coast Ranges, the Dusky Grouse found in the Rockies. The females of each species can barely be told apart, but the males are a little easier with throat air sacs of either yellow (Sooty) or red (Dusky) and body feather and tail differences. Take a look at a Dusky male during mating season we saw a few years back.
The Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) is a fast growing, aggressive pioneer species. Another words, it is one of the first trees to return to an area after it has been cleared by a disturbance such as avalanche or fire. As the conifers return, the aspens slowly disappear, not living well in the cool, shaded environment in which the returning pine, fir, and spruce thrive.
Quaking aspen reproduce almost entirely from root suckers rather than seeds or spores. Those shoots and suckers arise along its long horizontal root creating genetically identical trees within the community or grove, often called a clone of aspens. With a few naturalist skills, you can tell one clone of aspens from another by bark, leaves, and colorations. An healthy aspen grove, as with all living things, include young, middle-aged and mature trees. Interestingly, the single largest living organism in the world is an aspen grove in Utah called Pando.
So up we go.
Our first wide-open viewing area looks east. This is the west side of Pikes Peak (barren-looking alpine tundra straight ahead) Massif (portion of a mountain range affiliated with one or more major peaks). Pikes Peak is 14,115 feet and one of these days we will drive to the top. There are only two 14ers (peaks over 14,000 feet) you can drive up in Colorado, Pikes Peak and Mount Evans, 2 hours north. Look at all the aspen groves across the mountains.
Another short up trail and we’ve made it to the top!
Whoa, lots of big rocks to maneuver around and over, watch your step.
Can’t help but take a panorama. What a take-your-breath-away view. Let’s look a bit closer at different mountain ranges.
To our left (south), still in morning mist, is the end of both Pikes Peak Massif and the Front Range, the easternmost mountain range of the Rockies. The very misty mountains at right are the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southern most range of the Rockies. This range is about 100 miles southwest from where we are standing and is 242 miles long ending near Santa Fe, New Mexico.
West northwest is the 139 mile long Sawatch Range. One of these years I’ll know the peak names, but I only just arrived, after all.
See the eagle? Look closely.
Proof–lower left above. The call they have is not the boisterous scream we hear in movies but an unexpectedly wimpy high-pitched whistling. So what raptor makes that rather royal sounding call we hear in films? They are all over the US and Canada. The Red-tailed Hawk (press the green Listen tab).
Well, time to go explore a few more areas in Mueller and head home. The Saturday crowds are descending!
Until next time, enjoy autumn with a leisurely stroll in your neck of the woods!
