We had a wonderful week in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The autumn weather was still warm, and although it was rainy the first two days, we didn’t let it slow us down. The aspen were just starting to turn golden when we arrived and were in full color by the end of the week.

Steamboat Springs is a resort/ski community in the north central Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The town got its name when early explorers found the hot springs there and noticed that they sounded like a steamboat chugging when they bubbled. That certainly makes sense, as the Yampa River that flows through the town is canoe sized, not steamboat sized!

The day we arrived, we settled into the unit we would stay in for the week, and then the second day we took a ski gondola to the top of the ski area and walked a nature trail on top of the mountain. (Yes, despite my absolute terror of heights, I rode the gondola to the top. It helped that it was enclosed all the way around. I even got up the courage to enjoy the view and take some photos through the slightly blurry glass.)

These photos are from the first two days. I gave my camera quite a workout the entire time and will end up with several posts.

 

These rocks give Rabbit Ears Pass its name. Rabbit Ears is the pass that takes you into Steamboat Springs from the east.

American author Mark Twain keeps watch on a corner in downtown Steamboat. Around the corner were benches with Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln on them.

Here is the gondola going up the mountain. If you look carefully, you can see the gondola cars in the bottom section, near the housing.  Sunday was its last trip of the summer/fall season, carrying hikers and mountian bikers to the summit. It won’t open up again until the ski season starts in a couple of months.

Here is one of the photos I took in the ride up the mountian, once I relaxed and started to enjoy the ride. I was careful not to move a lot, though, because I got nervous when the gondola car rocked.

A view from the ski area

A view through the aspen and evergreen trees  – you can see the mountains beyond them.

Another view out over the valley

The moutain ash were turning orange and looked very festive with their bright red clusters of berries.

Moutain ash, ferns that were a beautiful gold, and an old stump made a nice picture.

Pat looking out at the view

You can see a few patches of aspen beginning to turn on the slopes here.

This boulder appears to be imprisoned by the aspen…hmm… I may smell a story here.

Layer of trees, including some lovely golden ones…

Mossy rocks and golden leaves

A colorful meadow slope

A passage way – and perhaps another story

The plant with the interestingly shaped large leaves is the Thimbleberry plant.

The path was damp from the rain showers that kept coming and going.

Cloudy skies and spots of turning aspen on the mountain side

I know there were a lot of pictures in this post, but if you knew how many I took…I really worked to get the number down this far. I’ll post more later this week.

- She Wolf (c)2008