Into the mountains, part deux

Ah, long time, no post pictures!

Three weeks ago, we went up into the mountains. What a lovely drive! So much has happened since then but I figure I should share some pretties with you.

Lots of pretties!


I couldn't figure out which angle to show you as they each highlight different things, so you get both. BTW, excuse the blodges in the pics - the windscreen was pretty dirty and of course all the best pics were taken from a moving car, not when we stopped to line the shots up well....


We drove up the Cache la Poudre Canyon to Cameron Pass.


Now for a lowlander like me, that pass is pretty darned high! It is almost another kilometre higher than the highest point on mainland Australia. No wonder I felt a little dizzy up there! (Don't ask who reverted to driving on the left side of the road. Ooops!)



A little further along the road were the Crags. Totally spectacular! So spectacular that we did not manage to get one picture that really shows their magnificence. This one will have to do (again out of the car as we found a turn around point).


We saw a moose - so did lots of other people. The fact that about 10 cars were pulled up on the side of the road sorta gave it away. It was not at all fussed by the attention.


On the way back down the canyon, we decided to stop and look at the tunnel which brings water from another river (the Laramie?) to the main branch of the Poudre.

Nathan was extremely enthusiastic about going for a little walk. It was a bit uphill. I had to get my all wheel drive legs out just to make it up the grade, which was about 45 degrees in some bits. We climbed and puffed and climbed some more and puffed and glowed a whole lot. But the views were great!


See the road down there? We climbed up from that road!





I thought I'd blow a foofer valve on the last bit of the climb it was so steep! But this is what we saw there - the tunnel outlet. Seemed smaller than I expected, though I know a metre wide pipe can carry an *awful* lot of water.


Last, but by no means least, the Colorado state flower, seen growing at Cameron's Pass.

I so wanna grow some of these! I love grannies' bonnets and this is a very pretty colour combo.