Impression Evergreen

The majestic, purple mountain Towering over Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak has been inspiring artists, explorers, gold seekers and presidents for over 200 years. In 1806, from out on the fruited plain, Zebulon Pike first beheld the majestic, purple mountain. He named it Grand Peak but early trappers and soldiers refused to call the megalith anything but Pikes Peak. Zeb felt compelled to climb the challenging alp as he led a party of trailblazers in a failed attempt to reach the summit. Upon his return, he wearily admitted that the mountain would probably never be climbed. The half-marathon distance from base to the summit was finally attained in 1820 and by 1873 the U.S. Army had established a military installation at the top of Pikes Peak. President Ulysses Grant hoped that meteorological data gathered from the summit of the high peak would assist in predicting volatile weather patterns circulating toward the east. He believed the valuable information would be critical in forecas

Yellow-Bellied Marmot Yellow-bellied marmots inhabit the high mountains of Colorado. Living in burrows dug underneath rocky outcrops, they seem to prefer to make their homes in the most spectacular of alpine settings. Also known as the rockchuck, they are the most gregarious animals on the tundra. Warm days are spent sunning, feeding, playing and napping. The marmot is sometimes called a whistle pig because at the first sign of danger it will use loud whistles to sound an alarm. They make varying calls, with each one carrying a different meaning, from the degree of threat to specifying if a predator is approaching by land or air. Yellow-bellies spend most of their life in a deep sleep from October until May. As a result, they eat with a purpose during the summer because a well-fattened marmot has the best chance of surviving through the long winter. When they come in contact with humans, they're not shy at all. In fact, they're begging machines. Some people think giving t

Summit Lake After a delicious Father's Day breakfast served in bed by my two boys, we decided to drive to the summit of Mount Evans. To get to the top is a 30 mile drive from our front door. As we ascended the highest paved road in North America, our first wildlife sighting was a herd of elk, grazing high above timberline. In the summer the elk move up to higher elevations and cooler temperatures. Rocky Mountain Elk are built for the cold and don't tolerate heat very well. Our first stop was Summit Lake nestled high in a glacial basin just below the summit. This cold, clear lake is the headwater for Bear Creek and flows down into Evergreen Lake and then all the way to Denver. We really got our blood pumping by ascending to the top of Mount Spalding and looked down into the beautiful Chicago Basin. After getting some pictures of the lake, we drove the treacherous, winding road up to the summit parking lot. At the top, we explored a rocky structure know as the castle in