Impression Evergreen

Snowstorm at Stagecoach Park After months of record breaking snowfall during March and April, the cold streak continues into the middle of May. The frigid beauty revealed in the aftermath of a freak snowstorm betrays the dreary weather experienced this spring. As usual dawn is shrouded in mist and you can see your own breath as glassy, white ice encases the shocked landscape. The trees are particularly hard hit but they display a defiant resolve to defeat the unexpected elements. Stagecoach Park is barely recognizable because of the low-lying clouds that cause reduced visibility. The field’s sturdy fence line seems to extend from an impressive pine all the way into absolute nothingness. After about a day of such nonsense the blue sky opened back up and an impatient sun went to work releasing winter’s almost unclench-able grip. Even the park’s iconic landmark, Bob the Dinosaur, has grown weary of this eternal, glacial event as it feels like we’re still in the last Ice Age. Freak sno

Clash of the Seasons While the world is at war with an invisible virus, we have been witness to a dramatic clash between our two most volatile seasons. It is a classic battle between Good and Evil as impatient Spring tries to usher out an unwilling winter. A couple of weeks of warm weather almost wiped out the last pieces of evidence betraying the dark season. Not surprisingly, on the first day of spring, a fierce blizzard destroyed the early vestiges of calm. The next morning was bleak as rising temperatures mingled with moist atmosphere, resulting in a veil of condensed fog. Objects close-up appeared with crystal clarity but as the field of vision expanded, the shapes disintegrated into a screen of nothingness. Wet snow had poured down quietly through the night and accumulated into a heavy pile at least a foot high. The tall pine trees wilted and bowed under the pressure of tremendous weight while smaller ones were smothered in a blanket of flakes. The steely sunrise abs

Somber light March has been a dreary month distinguished by somber light, ill weather and a deadly virus. During this muddy stretch, we usually get most of our sleet and snow but this year it has been all rain and drizzle. The clocks were struck ahead so twilight is later but the dawn is diffused by a morning mist that cloaks the landscape in a depressing aura. The individual shapes are broken into receding planes that gradually disappear into a blank slate of firmament. The sun strains desperately to filter its first light into an eerie woodland shrouded by dense fog. Some of the rays are funneled through narrow passages between the trees creating surreal beams that flood the forest floor. The desaturated colors are dull, the black mountains are buttressed by a tawny meadow and slags of gray snow slide across the scene. The interior is filled with a thick atmosphere of soupy moisture that softens every sharp edge. Citizens have been asked to disperse, interact socially fr

Endless Winter The month of May is almost over and the Endless Winter continues to lay siege to Evergreen, Colorado. Day after day a merciless system of unyielding snow keeps falling heavy, wet and cold. All that moisture combined with warm air creates a ghostly fog that circulates mysteriously through the white woodland. Even the most familiar places seem like strange land because the diminished visibility concocts an eerie atmosphere. The unforgiving stream of storms has wreaked havoc on the plants, animals and people that inhabit this region. The limber pine trees rooted into the mountainsides are erected to withstand this kind of assault but the nesting birds are understandably distressed. We’re all accustomed to enduring the long winters that dig in at this altitude and these delayed storms are not unheard of. In all my time living here, the latest date on which I’ve witnessed a substantial amount of snow is June 24th. What appears like a disaster now will be a godsen

Winter Weather Winter weather has continued to pummel the foothills leaving behind a panorama of white meadows and black forests. The big peaks have all but vanished from the landscape as a layer of thick fog has erased them from view. The animals are tired of contending with the everlasting cold and wet weather. We are all waiting patiently for Mother Nature’s palette of Spring colors to be painted across the gray environment. Wide stretches of vast wilderness has become a desolate winter tract into which neither man nor beast wishes to go. Positioned on the Western Front, the region is mired in a rut of mud, muck and monochrome. There is something hauntingly beautiful about the way the storms come crashing into the mountains. As the new season unfolds, the snow keeps falling in dense squalls that make the trees look like ghosts of the Great White North. It’s not an ideal situation but battling the harsh elements is the type of adversity that makes us strong. We’ll bide o