Alderfer/Three Sisters

It's our favorite time of the year
Autumn
In Colorado.

The air is crisp and often cool.

(Definitely cool in the mornings.
It was only 38° this morning when we woke up
Snuggling together under the down comforter was amazing.)

The skies are clear
The colors are brilliant
and the aspens are changing from green to gold.

We make a habit of taking frequent Hikes in the Fall
and hikes are among our Favorite Things to do.

(We may appear to be exceptionally Laid Back Terriers
And it's true
We are.
We know how to Relax and Kick Back.
But we also really really like our hikes.
It's a Wonderful World we live in now.)

Today
On the ride up the mountain to our Trailhead
We noticed the Colors are beginning to turn

Further up, at a higher elevation in the mountains

The trees are already vivid yellow.

Down here where we live

They are just beginning to turn

In another week or two, there'll be lots more yellow.

Today we went to an Open Space Park
named Alderfer/Three Sisters
a park of 770 acres of Open (protected) Space.

 It's a park with meadows, changing elevations, granite boulders
and quite a bit of wildlife.

We hiked and hiked.
About four miles all together, we figured.

Side by side
Sharing the lead
Happy
Happy
Happy


There were great places to stop and sniff

and Critters to spy  (see 'em? the mule deer?)


and Other Little Guys to see
(Remember.  We don't really have much of a predator instinct.
Those fellas are mostly just fun for us to watch.)

(We stole this pic off the internet.
But this black squirrel is just like the one that teased us on the trail.)

And there were Impressive Destinations to enjoy.

Behind me you can see the Three Sisters (and the Brother) rock formation
(Notice that your Tour Guide is now a VeryDustyWire.  Oh, Yeah!)

You can biggify the picture with me in it to see the "mountain"
and you can see the Sisters even better in this pic.

The rock outcroppings are metamorphic rock
of the Precambrian Era
(before very many rocks with fossils ... more than 600 million years ago)
(Now.  THAT'S OLD!)
(We hope Bertie notices our interest in the scientific and historical facts)
and the rock is mostly silver plume granite.

It was a Great Hike
(even if I did eat too much dry grass
and puked up my breakfast at the end of the trail.)

And it was a great return Home.

I got to eat Breakfast again.

A Nice Surprise arrived on our doorstep
(more about that soon)

and
We both enjoyed a Long Warm Shower.

Brown water washed down the drain
and TwoCleanTerriers
Ran Zoomies throughout the house.

Till We Collapsed.
Waiting for OurGirl.
She's coming home to spend Saturday with us!
WooHoo!
Maybe we can ALL go on another hike Together!