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Flowers in the Maroon Bells
Jul. 21st, 2022 09:55 amColorado Travelog #41
Aspen, CO - Saturday, 9 Jul 2022, 12:30pm
As we arrived at Maroon Lake after a 20-25 minute bus ride from Aspen the driver informed us that there were guided tours available at 10:30am. We're rarely the "Let's go with a tour group!" type of travelers, preferring to explore on our own without being crowded by people complaining about the weather, the sunshine, and the lack of proximity to Starbucks, McDonald's, and flush toilets. We at least asked, though, what the tours would entail. When we found out that they would be small size, no greater than 10 people including the guide, and would be led by a naturalist, we were interested. When we saw that nobody else was interested, we got really interested. 🤣
Well, by the time the ranger got moving, the group had grown to 6 plus her, but that was a fine group size. At least everyone was prepared for the hike and in good enough physical shape to do it, plus interested in learning while we walked.
Our guide's forte was flowers. That wasn't exactly what we expected. One of the other guides said it would be about geology. Our guide obliquely said that geology was his specialty. But that's okay; I know more about geology than flowers, so I'm good to learn!
Unfortunately, though, I'm not great at remember things about flowers. Like, I can barely remember their names. That fushcia one above? No idea was it is. Ditto this lilac colored one next.
There was one new-to-me flower I remember the name of. It's the orange sneeze-bag, or something like that. Yes, I totally remember that one because its name is amusing. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it. It was off the path, where I'd need my telephoto lens to get a good picture of it, and it was in deep shade.
This flower (above) I know the name of only because Hawk told me while I was preparing to publish this blog. It's a columbine. It's the state flower of Colorado!
Since columbine is the state flower I'll include two photos of them here. This second columbine picture (above) shows the color variation in the species. This one has more clearly differentiated purple and white leaves, while the first one has a fainter purple color.
Our little tour group was a fun group to walk with. Two of the members were older than us, an Indian couple who live on a Caribbean island and have traveled the world. It was fun comparing notes with them about some of the places we've both visited and getting tips on places we've yet to see. The other couple were younger but also world-wise. "The US is the 6th country I've lived in," one noted. All in all this was quite pleasantly the opposite of what too many of the few group tours we've joined have been like.
The cadence of our group's chit-chat changed when we broke out of the forest onto the moraine below Crater Lake. Here we could see the Maroon Bells clearly again, and everyone focused on getting there.
Oh, wait, there was one more flower we talked about.
"Wow, I haven't seen a dandelion in a long time!" I exclaimed.
"OMG, what a beautiful flower!" one of the group said. "I've never seen one before. What did you call it?"
OMG, you really haven't seen a dandelion before? I thought to myself. In the eastern US they grow as weeds. My parents had hundreds of them in their yard every summer until my dad started paying a lawn service to take care of them.
Aspen, CO - Saturday, 9 Jul 2022, 12:30pm
As we arrived at Maroon Lake after a 20-25 minute bus ride from Aspen the driver informed us that there were guided tours available at 10:30am. We're rarely the "Let's go with a tour group!" type of travelers, preferring to explore on our own without being crowded by people complaining about the weather, the sunshine, and the lack of proximity to Starbucks, McDonald's, and flush toilets. We at least asked, though, what the tours would entail. When we found out that they would be small size, no greater than 10 people including the guide, and would be led by a naturalist, we were interested. When we saw that nobody else was interested, we got really interested. 🤣
Well, by the time the ranger got moving, the group had grown to 6 plus her, but that was a fine group size. At least everyone was prepared for the hike and in good enough physical shape to do it, plus interested in learning while we walked.
Our guide's forte was flowers. That wasn't exactly what we expected. One of the other guides said it would be about geology. Our guide obliquely said that geology was his specialty. But that's okay; I know more about geology than flowers, so I'm good to learn!
Unfortunately, though, I'm not great at remember things about flowers. Like, I can barely remember their names. That fushcia one above? No idea was it is. Ditto this lilac colored one next.
There was one new-to-me flower I remember the name of. It's the orange sneeze-bag, or something like that. Yes, I totally remember that one because its name is amusing. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it. It was off the path, where I'd need my telephoto lens to get a good picture of it, and it was in deep shade.
This flower (above) I know the name of only because Hawk told me while I was preparing to publish this blog. It's a columbine. It's the state flower of Colorado!
Since columbine is the state flower I'll include two photos of them here. This second columbine picture (above) shows the color variation in the species. This one has more clearly differentiated purple and white leaves, while the first one has a fainter purple color.
Our little tour group was a fun group to walk with. Two of the members were older than us, an Indian couple who live on a Caribbean island and have traveled the world. It was fun comparing notes with them about some of the places we've both visited and getting tips on places we've yet to see. The other couple were younger but also world-wise. "The US is the 6th country I've lived in," one noted. All in all this was quite pleasantly the opposite of what too many of the few group tours we've joined have been like.
The cadence of our group's chit-chat changed when we broke out of the forest onto the moraine below Crater Lake. Here we could see the Maroon Bells clearly again, and everyone focused on getting there.
Oh, wait, there was one more flower we talked about.
"Wow, I haven't seen a dandelion in a long time!" I exclaimed.
"OMG, what a beautiful flower!" one of the group said. "I've never seen one before. What did you call it?"
OMG, you really haven't seen a dandelion before? I thought to myself. In the eastern US they grow as weeds. My parents had hundreds of them in their yard every summer until my dad started paying a lawn service to take care of them.
