Friday, September 18, 2009

Grand Mesa National Forest


We see Grand Mesa every day from Grand Junction but
until now had never taken a drive through this beautiful
part of Colorado.


Water seemed to be one of the themes of the day as we
saw streams and lakes everywhere.


Wildlife was abundant and had very little fear of humans.


Lots of people were out on the many lakes, enjoying
some early autumn fishing.


There were lots of trails that we want to check out and
hike next summer.


Deep thoughts...with Tom Hamann...LOL


There were hillsides at every turn that were on fire with
color.


The views were awesome!


At Land's End one can see all the way to Utah from almost
11,000 feet altitude. That's Grand Junction in the center
of the photo.


These little guys have obviously played the "pose for the
tourist" game before.


Each direction had fantastic views. This is overlooking
the Gunnison River valley and Uncompahgre Plateau to
the southwest.


Somewhere in the middle of this photo is our house!


Even more birds were practically begging to have their
photo taken.


Gold and Green apparently aren't the only fall colors in
Colorado.


Some of the Aspen were holding onto summer and were
stubbornly staying green.


Although it was a bit hazy and warm in the valley (84 degrees),
the air was clear and a crisp 51 degrees on top of the Mesa.
That's what 6000 feet of altitude will do for you!


One of the few buildings at Land's End is the Observatory,
built by the CCC during the Depression by World War I Vets.

4 comments:

Benjamin said...

I love to make fun of my home town as there are some genuinly messed up things about it, but I generally forget to tell people how beautiful it really is and how lucky I was to be able to grow up among such great vistas. Thanks Tom.

carrie said...

It's beautiful Tom. Sounds like you and Lynn are cramming in as much nature as possible before you leave for the dead south. Are you all packed?

Anonymous said...

You don't know me and we may never meet, but your photos are like a mini vacation to me. It's one thing to see National Geographic-its another thing to see real people going to cool places and telling about it.

I live in an inner city (rent New Jack City and Boyz in da Hood for reference) because of a good job that exists here.

It's not that bad, over all. Do hear gunfire on the regular tho.

I am figuring out where I want to travel to based off your photo journal and look forward to reading about you 'on the ice.'

~Sarah

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