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After a several year hiatus, Frances and I returned to Colorado in September, 2005. This was the latest in the calendar year we had visited our favorite part of that gorgeous state, the Ouray, Silverton, and Durango region, which has numerous peaks whose summits rise to 13,000, 14,000, or more feet above sea level. Most of our prior trips had been in late June to early July, a period when the snow occasionally falls but, most of the time, winter's accumulation of the white stuff is slowly melting, adding to the luxuriant wetness of the meadows and the cheerful energy of the many streams. But in all cases, there remained snow near the mountaintops so that they often looked like the classic images of Swiss Alps. This time, though, after a warmer and drier spring and summer than usual (impossible to say yet, but it is easy to speculate this might be due to global warming and consequent climate changes), there was little snow remaining from several months before, and as yet there had been precious little new frozen precipitation with the onset of autumn (which comes sooner, of course, in the heights than at lower levels). Nonetheless, the deciduous trees, predominantly aspens, had already begun changing their hues, creating quite eye friendly fall coloration. And most nights brought light freezes. On one occasion, we were out hiking when a storm came up, swiftly bringing both thunder and sleet, then a little snow. Briefly, the effects remained in lofty white-draped vistas, but by late the same afternoon the peaks were largely exposed as barren rock again, though sometimes a majestic bleakness had been softened by the green brushwork of pine forests, shrubs, or grasses. Once we had become accustomed to the changes, I certainly found abundant fine images in this elevated environment worthy of capture with a Pentax Optio 750Z digital camera.
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