A Nice Little Drive West of Fort Collins

October 31, 2007

From Fort Collins, on most days you can see the mountains magnificently guarding the western horizon. In front of these giants roll miles of foothills and valleys. Some of the area is covered with resevoirs; some is contained in county or state parks or National Forests. Other areas are private residences, farms and ranches.

On a weekday, it's nice to just leave town and drive up to the overlook along the eastern shore of Horsetooth Resevoir. That's just what I did today. My morning plans were cancelled on me, so I had a bit of spare time. Pictured to the left is the view of Horsetooth from this location, looking roughly southwest. If you look at the larger version, you can see how far down the water level is in this resevoir.

Think we need to conserve water? Undoubtedly.

It was kind of dreary and overcast as I drove west from the south end of the resevoir. I like clouds; they can be very expressive. I think they show the mood of the natural world around us. Perhaps these clouds show how we feel as we drift towards winter -- the fall colors in the mountains can be beautiful, but as they fade, we look with an eye of caution towards winter snows and declining temperatures.

In this light, the hills may not look as dramatic as they can, but it's still nice to look out and not see concrete everywhere!

The peaks to the west had a new dusting of snow overnight, yet the foothills were still just showing the end of the fall colors. The farther north and west I went, more and more trees - even the dried remains of this summer's shrubs and wildflowers - had their dusting of snow. I always find it an interesting time of year - the lack of deciduous leaves show the topography of these hills so clearly, and the frost dos its job to outline each plant and rock.

The last part of my trip followed CO Highway 14 eastward, back into the northern part of Fort Collins. This highway is beautiful; it winds in tandem with the Poudre River through National Forest and out into the flatlands. At the lower elevations, the snow disappeared. The yellow you see along the river is the last of the willows in their fall color.

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