Cold Storm on the Sangre de Cristo Range of Colorado
It was cold this morning, the dogs wouldn’t even go out the door, not voluntarily anyway 🙂 But they got their business done quickly! I looked down the valley and couldn’t see the mountains at all. I have to admit… there was a strong temptation to wimp out myself! However, I needed some supplies, particularly a package of oatmeal cookies from the Gold Camp Bakery in Victor. The trail I hike is on the way and my snowshoes are already in the truck. No excuse to stay in the house.
The Trail to Myself
The wind was howling in the high country with snow drifting across the trail. The good thing about these conditions is that I get the whole mountain to myself 🙂 Since there was so much blowing snow, I decided to protect the camera with the Ruggard Shield, although it turned out I really didn’t need to. I strapped on my snowshoes and headed up the mountain. Despite the -15 degree wind chill according to my weather app, it was a relatively pleasurable climb 🙂
A Break in the Clouds
I was surprised when I cleared the ridge and saw the clouds had parted over the Sangre de Cristo Range. There was a cloud directly overhead but sunshine was streaming through a break over the horizon in the east onto the Sangres in the west. I hustled over the clearing on the summit hoping that the window of light wouldn’t close before I could get there! Fortunately, I arrived at the edge of the overlook in time to snap a few images of the clouds and haze on the mountains. I’ve seen a million storms on the mountain but it seems like they are a bit different each time.
Coyote in the Distance
 I wasn’t expecting to see any wildlife on such a severe day but much to my surprise there was a coyote out hunting. He was still a good half mile off, but I scrambled to switch my camera to the wildlife settings. No luck with that though, he was well aware of my presence and quickly dipped behind the ridge and out of sight. As long as I had the camera ready though, I decided to take this shot of the trees and fence which had caught my eye. The picture doesn’t look quite as interesting as the scene did while I was standing in the wind and snow, but here it is anyway 🙂
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