High Rockies

Colorado's the nation most active state where being outdoors is so utterly and agonizingly tempting. A hefty snow pack and resultant swollen rivers make travel a little tricky but the landscape is so stunningly gorgeous that I could not resist.
Some hotels have info on how to acquire weed now that marijuana is legal. Any day I expect a momentous decision from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, swiftly bringing Colorado and its neighbors into the realm of progressive states ...

Madly rushing Alberta Fall, Rocky Mountain.

 

 Loch Leven. Not Scotland...

 Bear Lake.

 Chapin, Chiquita and Ypsillon above Horseshoe Park.

 Eight-point elk.

Hopping about them hills.

Dead Horse Creek.

Hanging Lake.
 

 Majorly stoked about visiting this freeway rest area!

 Unless you come in from Tomboy Basin over Imogene Pass, a seriously gnarly 4wd track, this will be your first view of Telluride.
And when you'll fall in love.

 Previous view from the Highline Trail.
The airport's runway does go uphill: not the faint of heart.

 The town's main drag. In any event there are only a handful of streets, all bracketed by 13,000-foot mountains on three sides.

Aspens, aspens everywhere. I love those trees!

 The extent of the town. The "village" on the flip side of the mountain/ski area is

a developer fabrication, a collection of oversized condos with zero soul.

 A hike up Smuggler Mountain to enjoy the day's waning rays over another amazing town, Aspen.

 Headwaters of the Arkansas River.

The Arkansas below Granite picks up speed. Another 1,450 miles through Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas to the Mississippi. I would not be in such hurry to get there...

  Breck. Great ski area, cute historic town center but unlike Telluride and Aspen it feels there for the exclusive benefit of tourists...

Breck and the 10-mile range.

Dillon Reservoir.