Checking in with Winter [AAW08]
Winter is coming along nicely. The high mountain lakes are frozen over and the snowpack is starting to accumulate.
Hallett Peak from the ice on Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park.
I took advantage of the heavy weekend snowshoe traffic - by walking in on Monday. The snow on the trails was packed tightly so I just walked in using microspikes - no snowshoes needed. The other advantage is the crowds were gone. Probably saw only a dozen folks all day.
Gneiss, snow and Aspen on the Emerald Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park.
It is rewarding to be out walking this time of year. The extra complications with gear, clothing, freezing water bottles, etc. can be overcome with a bit of experience. Once you are over those few initial hurdles, the backcountry opens up into a totally new experience. On snowshoes or skis, the trail is literally where ever you want to go walk. Route finding is always a bit more challenging, but GPS and an appropriate map solve that issue. And the views. The views are spectacular.
Halite Peak from Emerald Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park.
Walking across the frozen lakes always provides a totally new perspective. No longer tied to the shore, you can drift across the ice and observe scenes not so easily available in summer.
The ice and snow differ from year to year. Still, certain drifts and icy areas seem to recur. I think it is just the drastic change from summer that is so striking.
The dramatic low angle light of the sun is another characteristic of the winter views.
Sunlit ridge from Emerald Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park.
With the ground mostly white, the leaves and flowers gone and the lakes covered with ice and snow, a more fundamental, basic - almost elemental - landscape presents itself.
Ice pressure ridge, rock, snow and coyote scat, Rocky Mountain National Park.
I cannot take it all in and I do not try. I am open to the experience as a single blast of color and light. Consciousness contracts to the here and the now. The next step. The next breath.
Ice window into a buried creek. Rocky Mountain National Park.
Once back to the trailhead I decide to make another climb through the trees. There is still plenty of sunlight and I want to walk some more. To just be here in this place at this time.
There is some wildlife moving about in the trees. Squirrels bark at me when I come in to view and Gray and Stellar's jays show up when I stop, looking for a handout. Then there are tracks in the snow indicating the presence of others in the neighborhood.
Snowshoe Hare Tracks, Rocky Mountain National Park.
A break in the trees and the scene opens up.
The valley from the ridge.
The most recent snow pack statistics for the area are about 17 inches. Not much, but well on the way to the average of about 6 feet at the climate station in this area. That 6 feet of snow equates to about 1.5 feet of water (again, on average) along the front range. So 25% of the snow pack is water and the rest is air.
The majority of the snowpack comes with the spring storms in March, April and even into May. The seasonal precipitation provides a significant proportion of the water used here. Used by crops and cattle and humans. And then, after flowing though us, it moves on to the sea - down streams and rivers by gravity or through clouds and precipitation by evaporation.
Many warn that only 3 percent of the water on earth is fresh water - water usable by humans. And that is true. But, it is good to keep in mind that that 3 percent is an average value that is constantly being replenished through the hydrologic cycle of evaporation from oceans and precipitation to recharge freshwater reservoirs (be they surface water, ground water or polar ice caps). When climate changes (as it certainly does), the hydrologic cycle will no doubt change in predictable and unpredictable ways. Looked at from a geologic point of view, the climate is always changing. Even from a human point of view the climate has changed drastically since the Paleoamericans lived where I do only 11,500 years ago. The unusual human experience during this current period of climate change is that we are finally smart enough to see it happening (science!), to try to understand why it is happening (anthropogenic) and to try to predict how it will happen. The more we learn the better we understand the universe.
Water is the basis of our society in the most fundamental aspect: It allows life. It also makes for beautiful walks in the snow, breathtaking clouds, spectacular mountain streams.
And, just a drop or two, makes a good bourbon bloom.