There is a mountain I see every time I go grocery shopping in Conifer, Colorado. The base of it literally goes all the way down to the back of this grocery store. While I still wait for the above-normal snow pack in the high country to melt a little more (most in 30 years in some places), I can’t pass up the opportunity to climb a mountain so close to home. This one is called Berrian Mountain.
Rhiannon and Nikia with Ilmarë and Tatonka
Checking out a little cave in a massive granite boulder
The cave was narrow but looked like it went back pretty far. The entrance was covered with bat guano. I'll have to come back here near sunset some night to see the little critters take flight.
There was evidence of an old fire all over the mountain. The strange thing is the mountain is covered with many large trees, so burned husks like this may be at least fifty years old.
This is a juvenile Stellar's Jay, perhaps having just landed after his first flight. He kept running away from us while his parents were squawking at us from above.
A view towards Mount Evans through the haze of smoke from the massive Arizona wildfire.
Not the top, but a pile of rocks I could not resist.
The view on top was limited because of the trees.
I think this rock marks the top.
Beautiful meadow on the way back down
Golden Banner flowers
This was a pleasant surprise. I had not seen a wild iris in almost thirty years (since I lived in Yellowstone), and there were quite a few in this meadow.
