Monday, October 24, 2011

Guanella Pass

Yesterday Seth and I decided take advantage of the beautiful fall weather by going for a long scenic drive in the mountains.  We chose a new-to-us route over Guanella Pass which connects the mountain towns of Grant and Georgetown.
This drive was number one on the Denver Channel's list of places to see Colorado's fall colors. Unfortunately, we were a couple weeks too late for that.  Most of the aspen stands looked like this. 
The lack of color combined with this bumpy dirt road was a cause for great concern among  the back seat Buxtons.  We were barely ten minutes outside of Grant and both boys were ready to call it quits.
It wasn't long, however, before the road turned back to pavement...
and everyone began to enjoy the scenery.
There may not have been a lot of fall color, but it was still beautiful!
We'd drive awhile... 
then pull over and wander a bit. 
This little stream had a lot of fish in it, but I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of them! 
Ryan and James always bring their pocket knives on mountain adventures.  Ryan spent most of his out of the car time sharpening sticks.
Three Buxton men, each doing their own thing. 
Of course, I spent most of my time taking pictures.  These are my favorite subjects!
Views from the road! 
There are lots of campgrounds along this road.  We scouted a few and found a pair of pink sunglasses at one.   Seth picked them up and we were able to persuade James to model them.
Real men wear pink sunglasses. 
Finally, we reached the top. 
The elevation at the summit is 11,669.
We spent some time exploring... 
before heading down the other side of the mountain...
to Georgetown.
October 2011

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a nice day!