First Hike of the Year

The weather was so nice on Friday that we went on a hike at Lumpy Ridge, on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. The parking lot is outside of the park, so it's free, but the trail actually crosses into the park. Cool!

The surface of the rock.

Kay on the rock.

More photos and videos after the jump...


There's still snow on the ground!

Ryan in the landscape.

Death.

This bird was going crazy banging his beak against the tree to get at the bugs. You can hear him better toward the end.

Close-ups of stuff growing on the rocks.

The Photo.

Behind the Scenes: Making of the Photo.


A distant view.

What the ground was like.

Juniper berries?

Kay figured out how to do this.

New for Spring.

Close-ups of the moss on the log.

Into the log.

Together.

Try to find Kay.

Try to find Ryan.

This tree was trying to grow like 20 branches from the same spot! Is there a name for this?

This giant rock had some kind of flaky lichen (?) growing on it.

What a big strange overhanging rock.

It had these weird wrinkles / cracks in it.

How does a tree grow from a rock?

Wide view.

Work it.

More of those weird wrinkles / cracks.

This tree grew around the boulder!

The cloud.

Snowy shadows.

A bird's house.

Next to a stream, looks like a place for ferns. Can't wait to come back in the summer and see them growing.

Hanging out next to the stream.

Up into the tree.

How??

What's that?

A butterfly!

Did this tree also grow around a boulder, and then the boulder went away?