Wstern Trip 2014 - Into the Mountains

 

 

Foreboding cliffs, with a peculiar reddish tint, nicely contrasting the green vegetation.

 

A towering precipice overhanging the roadway.



An old mine, in extreme disrepair.
It was amazing how many of them we saw on our trip.

A beautiful waterfall deeper in the mountains.



10,000 feet and climbing.
The shoulder here was about 8 inches, give or take. most of the way was sheer drop offs.
 This part here was much less steep, and was a beautiful little meadow.



The first time for most of us to cross the continental divide.
We walked up the hill on the other side of the road to the left, so we reached 12,000+ feet.

These tenacious little flowers were blossoming in 40* weather at 12,000+ feet!

 

We all really enjoyed going over the pass, even though it was a little out of the way.

We also noticed we got short of breath much quicker. It is a rather weird feeling,

but I have to say, I really liked it; I already want to go back.

Later on in the trip, we started nearing Utah, on the other side of the Rockies.

We quickly noticed how the geological formations were changing, and how the different types of rock were becoming more prevalent.

Classic red sandstone formations.



Some beautiful Aspens, with red sandstone cliffs in the background.

A green field in the valley where we stopped for lunch.

 

A spectacular view in one of the many canyons we drove through.

 

 So where did we end up?

That will be the next post, hopefully coming later this week.

Now that I have the image upload issue resolved, I should be able to get these posts up and running fairly quickly.