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Sunday, September 29, 2024

Fall Color on Guanella Pass in Colorado

The fall season comes early in Colorado's higher elevations.  My husband and I know that as September approaches its last days it is nice to enjoy a car drive in the mountains to witness all the beautiful autumn colors at their peak. One of our favorite drives is on Guanella Pass from Grant to Georgetown.  


Guanella Pass (highest elevation 11,669 ft or 3,557 m) is a high mountain pass and one of the many scenic byways in Colorado. It is an easy winding 24-mile drive with many aspen trees along the paved road and in the mountains surrounding it.



Our first stop along the way is at Geneva Creek, a tributary of the North Fork South Platte River, to the south.  You can see a short video of the flowing creek in the video above.




The sky was a deep cloudless blue and the fall foliage colors were illuminated by strong sunlight.


Our second stop is always by this waterfall located very near the road, where we take a walk around to see all the views.




"Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty"  ~ John Ruskin


" Wild is the music of autumnal winds
Amongst the faded woods"
~ Willian Wordsworth



I always enjoy seeing this home that is along the way --- imagine living there for all four seasons?


Informational placards at a roadside pull-out--click on them to enlarge the photos and any other photo in this post


We reached the 11,669 ft or 3,557 m summit. We stopped here to take photos. As you can see the summit is above the tree line.  


At the summit, hiking trails lead east to Mount Bierstadt (elevation 14,060 ft (4,290 m)) and west to Square Top Mountain, with many other trails connecting to the lower parts of the pass.



Leaving the summit we are soon surrounded by aspen trees again!


"The Heart of Autumn must have broken here, and poured its treasure upon the trees."
~ Charlotte Bates


Another favorite spot where we stop is on the Silverdale Trailhead above Georgetown.




In this short video, you can listen to how the aspen trees "quake" in a breeze!


"Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the Autumn tree."
 ~ Emily Bronte


It is easy to see why Fall is my favorite season!

PS: My heart goes out to all those impacted by the devastating Hurricane Helene. You are in my thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.


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Sunday, September 22, 2024

A Visit to the National Center For Atmospheric Research



 

This past year my husband and I, along with a group of friends, visited the National Center for Atmospheric Research also known as "NCAR," located in Boulder, Colorado. NCAR was established by the National Science Foundation in 1960 to provide the university community with world-class facilities and services beyond any individual institution's reach. It was the National Science Foundation's first federally funded research and development center, managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, "UCAR". a nonprofit consortium of more than 120 colleges and universities. This building was their headquarters, with additional facilities located in Wyoming and Hawaii.

*All photos on this blog spot will be enlarged for easier viewing by right-clicking on them.


We were a group of 9, so we had an NCAR member as a guide for our visit who explained their mission, showed us the exhibits in the visitor's center, and answered our questions.

She explained the NCAR Mission:

  • To understand the behavior of the atmosphere and related Earth and geospace systems
  • To support, enhance, and extend the capabilities of the university community and the broader scientific community, nationally and internationally
  • To foster the transfer of knowledge and technology for the betterment of life on Earth


One of the first exhibits we saw was a model of the NCAR building and its location. The Mesa Laboratory the headquarters of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, is considered by many to be an architectural masterpiece. The NCAR site was designed by world-renowned architect M.I, Pei  



Pei was greatly influenced by the Colorado landscape and other architectural marvels to create his design. He considered the NCAR Mesa building to be one of his favorite designs and a major turning point in his illustrious career.


There were many exhibits to observe and read in the visitor's center.



An explanation of Meteorological Optics. They consist of varied atmospheric optics such as the phenomena of rainbows, halos, atmospheric corona, mirages, and sundogs (Parhelia).



We saw actual webcam images of the sun...


...as well as many other fascinating sun exhibits.




We saw many informational placards about weather...


...as well as many hands-on weather exhibits




There was information about the growing concern about air quality and ozone and pollutants.

Did you know that in the US one can go to the website airnow.gov, enter your zip code and the reading of your local air quality will be revealed?



This exhibit of a car fender with a giant icy hailstone on it made us chuckle, as Colorado and other areas of the US can get significant and damaging hailstorms.




More interactive weather displays.




Our tour guide told us that the hundreds of scientists who work in NCAR research all things atmospheric — which includes everything from the microphysics of cloud formation and the chemistry of air pollution to large-scale planetary waves and the impact of increased greenhouse gases on our climate.


Upstairs we viewed a long corridor of exhibits mainly pertaining to the study of the effects of Climate Change



Click on to enlarge to read the topics being studied



We saw example models of weather balloons and satellites that are adding to the knowledge of the atmosphere, weather formations, and warning systems.



An example of a dropsondes and what it is used for.

A dropsonde is an expendable weather reconnaissance device created by NCAR, designed to be dropped from an aircraft at altitude over water to measure and therefore track storm conditions as the device falls to the surface. The sonde contains a GPS receiver, along with pressure, temperature, and humidity (PTH) sensors to capture atmospheric profiles and thermodynamic data. It typically relays this data to a computer in the aircraft by radio transmission.




Many areas of atmospheric science are being studied and explored ...


Much is being learned about the impacts of our modern environment on our atmosphere...


...and causes and effects of those changes.




Our atmosphere is a blanket around our earth and all of life depends on it! Let's all do our part in caring for and preserving it as best we can.  

"We believe this work is more important than ever. As society struggles to deal with rapidly changing environmental conditions, the need for relevant information and services continues to grow. The hazards of long-term atmospheric and climate changes, air pollution episodes, extreme weather, geomagnetic storms, and related impacts such as drought, storm surges, and wildfires take a significant toll in terms of human life and economic loss."


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Sunday, September 15, 2024

Oh Deer!


 I haven't had the chance to write much about what's been happening in our local area this summer, and now it's almost fall! I didn't plant my usual vegetable and flower garden this summer because we traveled to New York and went on an East Coast Cruise in June. In a way, I'm glad we didn't plant anything because this trio of animals has been hanging out in my backyard almost every day, eating everything. The doe looks thin in this photo because she was still nursing her twin fawns. She's now back to normal weight as the fawns are older, and almost exclusively eat plants.


It has been nice looking out my windows to watch the fawns grow up!


This week I noticed that the fawns lost their spots and were growing their winter fur! It has been getting cooler at night although our daytime temperatures have been above normal for this time of year.



This is another deer trio that has been visiting lately--three young bucks!


They have also been eating all my shrubs!

I know I can spray a deer repellent on the shrubs to deter them,  but I don't like to apply chemicals that can affect the birds, insects and bees, rabbits, squirrels, etc, that also visit my backyard, so I've learned to tolerate them munching on everything.




Speaking of wild rabbits...we have many that also eat everything! They had a hard time with the high temperatures this summer and I often saw them sprawling out on a patch of dirt under a tree to cool off. Their poses made me laugh!




To successfully grow any plant that grows, I have found that I need to protect it by surrounding it with chicken wire fences. As a result, a handful of perennials have been able to bloom this summer, along with some vibrant sunflowers. It was nice to see a bit of color!



Fall in Colorado is beautiful, and I look forward to sharing some photos soon.

Be sure to check back!

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Sunday, September 8, 2024

A Geology Field Trip In My Colorado Front Range Neighborhood!


 

I live in an area along the Colorado Front Range rich in geological features and natural beauty!




We can hike in many areas and see geological formations called the Permian era Lyons Formation (whitish compressed sandstone area), the Pennsylvanian era Fountain Formation (red rocks), and the Cretaceous era Dakota Formation  (sandstone, clays, and shale) which were formed many hundreds of millions of years ago.  

A nearby national landmark Dinosaur Rridge, which was once the home of many stegosaurus dinosaurs is also a Dakota Formation. You can see a prior blog post on this link where we visited Dinosaur Ridge for another geologic tour by a geologist that we attended.




Our community's historical society hosted a "Geology Field Trip" one day this summer with our members and three residents with scientific backgrounds in geology and paleontology. They volunteered to take us on an educational three-hour tour of our area to learn more about its geologic history. They made a wonderful multi-page handout for each member with scientific definitions, geologic timelines, and definitions which was very interesting and helpful during our tour.




An example of Precambrian Metamorphic Rock

They first discussed the geology of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado

The Rocky Mountains took shape during an intense period of plate tectonic activity that resulted in much of the rugged landscape of Western North America

In the southern Rocky Mountains, near present-day Colorado and New Mexico, the Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks were disturbed by mountain-building shifts which produced the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. The uplift formed two large mountainous islands, located roughly in the current locations of the Front Range and the San Juan Mountains. They consisted largely of Precambrian metamorphic rock, forced upward through layers of limestone and laid down in the shallow sea. The mountains eroded throughout the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras leaving extensive deposits of sedimentary rock.



We moved to another area where we examined whitish rock formations among red rock.




Stromatolite formations

We learned that the white-colored rock was a product of the late Permian era of about 250 million years ago, in which a great extinction took place of many land and sea-bound life. In this post-extinction scene along what was then a slimy slimy mounds known as stromatolites formed. The stromatolites were located in shallow and salty pools and were an unlikely partnership of bacteria and algae. The ones in our area are Permian/Triassic era Lykins Stromolites.



 
A hogback formation

Across from the stromolites, we could see a familiar sight in our area a hogback formation.  Hogbacks are a typical regional topographic expression of outcrops of steeply dipping strata, commonly sedimentary strata, that consist of alternating beds of hard, well-lithified strata, i.e. sandstone and limestone, and either weak or loosely cemented strata, i.e. shale, mudstone, and marl.






We now moved to another area and saw a Late Jurassic Morrison Formation where dinosaur quarries are often found, such as those in the aforementioned Dinosaur Ridge. The geologists went over the different combinations of geologic formations in this area which were formed 150 million years ago and the paleontologist held up a dinosaur Apatosaurus bone that he had unearthed on a scientific expedition in Wyoming.  We were all able to hold the bone and feel its weight and size.




Finally, visited a creek bed where young residents found a prehistoric Mammoth jaw and tusk in 2009. The original specimens were donated to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, but we were able to hold a model. Look at those giant molars! The Colorado Front Range area has been the location of extinct Ice Age animals and artifacts from later human occupation from 11,000 years ago. We visited an area called Lamb Spring Archeological Preserve a few years ago--you can read that blog post on this link. There, in 1960, the land's owner and rancher, Charles Lamb, was digging a stock pond at the site of a natural spring. He found several large bones that were identified by geologists with the US Geological Survey, as the remains of mammoth, horse, camel, and bison

Our tour guides could have explained more, but our three-hour time limit was up. They promised to organize similar tours in other areas in the future, and we all eagerly expressed our appreciation for all we learned this time and our enthusiasm for taking a future tour.



It seems appropriate that a premier engineering and applied science Colorado School of Mines is located in Golden Colorado. The university has a spectacular geologic museum with samples from Colorado, as well as samples from around the world. We often visit, and if you enjoy geology you can see a two-part blog post I wrote about one visit to their museum on this Part One link and this Part Two link.


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