Aspen Overview
Sunday, September 29, 2019 — Buchanan Pass
Drove up to Wild Basin, and found it inundated with aspen leaf-viewers, not least because today happened to be a free day at RMNP, and the aspen are at their peak (so to speak). Stopped and took few pictures along the way, but found a plethora of people at the trailhead. Decided to head elsewhere.
Drove south to Brainard, which was also inundated, but Mitchell Lake parking lot had space. I didn’t feel like Mitchell or Blue, so I started up the trail toward Audubon, kind of tentative, but told myself to hike just up to the right turn where the trail exits the forest, with the view of Mt. Toll. Once I got there, I decided to go to the first switchback. And so it went, to the ridge at treeline with a view of Longs Peak; that was plenty. On the way down, a rock fell on my left ankle, which then ached every time my foot tilted off-level (i.e., every step).
Got back to the car and headed to Nederland, avoiding the vast throngs taking pictures at the usual spots. Alas, Blue Moon Cafe had closed for the day, so I went to some coffee shop on the east side of town, named Salto; it closed at 5pm, but they made me a latte anyway. So that was nice.
My camera is over-exposing everything for some reason. In fact, both cameras are being weird. Time to reset and go back to auto mode. Somehow managed to rescue a few shots in Lightroom, sort of. Not sure what’s going on.
Mitchell Lake, Pawnee Peak and Mt. Toll from the Audubon Trail