Return to Roxborough

Today I went back to Roxborough State Park for an afternoon hike.  The familiar red rocks of the Fountain Formation greeted me at the parking lot, although the left-most rock looked a bit grumpy.

I decided that I needed a strenuous hike today.  This sign recommended the Carpenter Peak Trail.

I walked past the gray cliffs of the Lyons Formation sandstone and wondered what the three stone objects in the foreground signified.

The following structure was obviously a paleolithic naval destroyer.  Its green wake was bubbling up from the rear.

I began climbing toward Carpenter Peak and enjoyed the autumn pastels: green, yellow, orange, rose, and purple.  At this point I fell in with an Englishman named Pete.  As we went up the trail we had a pleasant conversation about the usual topics of interest to men in their sixties: the need to stay fit in one's older years, retirement finances, the paucity of rich widows, etc.  He also offered an interesting perspective on Scottish independence, comparing Scotland with Texas.

I arrived at the top of Carpenter Peak, which was strewn with boulders.  There was a nice view of the Continental Divide.

As I retraced my steps down the peak, the trail was lit by sunlight through the trees.

After I cleared the trees, I heard a raspy screech and then spotted a blue bird on the wing.  I snapped this blurry photograph.  Based on its round head and the black patch around its eyes, I believe this may be a Western Scrub Jay.