Wildflower Meadow

Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013.  Hazel and I meet up with my brother Ted in a very secluded spot in the Rio Grande National Forest in Southern Colorado. We set up camp at 10,500 ft. elevation in a meadow that is about the size of 10 football fields.  We've nicknamed it Wildflower Meadow because when we discovered it the wildflowers were so thick they covered it like a carpet. This picture can't do it justice but it gives an idea of how many kinds there were.

I always seem to take pictures of bluebells because they are one of my favorite wildflowers.

This butterfly likes the wildflowers too.

There not only were a lot of wildflowers but a lot of mushrooms too like this one that was the size of a softball.

The view from camp was spectacular, one morning we watched 2 mule deer with huge racks graze in this field and the next morning in this same place were 2 big elk.

At evening the same scene takes on a whole different look as a rainbow lights up.

As we hike around the area we find the remains of an old stable. Maybe a hunter kept his horses here while hunting elk.

Back at camp I set up my telescope hoping that night will bring clear skies.  At 10,500 ft. and no light pollution the viewing could be awesome.
It turns out to be a great night for star gazing.  We saw Venus which was very bright.  Then we saw Saturn and its rings and even its moon Hyperion.  Next we looked at M8 which is the Lagoon Nebula where baby stars are forming.  Then we saw M5, a globular cluster of almost a million stars that astronomers estimate to be 13 billion years old.  Finally we look at M31, The Andromeda Galaxy.  It contains 300 billion stars and is much larger than our Milky Way Galaxy.  M5, M8 and M31 are all part of the 110 Messier objects. From 1774 to 1781 the astronomer Charles Messier was the first to catalog these deep sky objects and I hope to see all of them with my telescope.

On Sat. we decide to hike a section of the Continental Divide Trail.  The continental divide runs through Mexico up through the U.S. and Canadian rocky mountains on to the Arctic Ocean. It is called the continental divide because all of the rivers on its west side drain into the Pacific Ocean and those on its east side drain into the Atlantic Ocean.

While we are getting our packs ready we hear a loud train whistle and look up just in time to see the Cumbres and Toltec Steam Train pass overhead.

At first the Continental Divide Trail doesn't look much different than any other trail.

Before long we are looking down on the railroad tracks we were standing under and the scenery is fantastic.

After about 3 miles we come to a very nice waterfall where we decide to take a break.

After resting we turn around and head back.  The four days of camping, hiking and star gazing was so much fun I decide to take a group picture of Grandpa Tom, brother Ted and Hazel Doggie.