Welcome to Breckenridge

These pictures in from the front yard garden Shasta Daisies after some rain, and with the sun shining. Colorado State Flower -- Blue and White Columbine A local grass "fronds"

Our friends Bev and Whitey invited us to Jackson WY for the Eclipse, so we accepted and drove 9 hours hoping that there would be no clouds or smoke from nearby fires. The 100% path crossed right over their house, so it was bound to be excellent. We just needed to find the "right place". Well, Bev knew just where -- on the clearing up on Black Tail Butte. So off we went at 7:00 AM to hike to reach the spot. We got there to find a couple of "eclipse nerds" already setting up cameras. One group had 3 and one couple had 4 -- serious eclipse nerds. The guys from England mentioned that this was their 6th eclipse. The couple from SF drove out just for this, their first one. Then the crowd swelled. People from all over... NZ, England, Germany, France, -- lots of eclipse nerds and plenty of shared information. There was quite a bit of exhibition of how to view by creating a pin hole "camera", using fingers, binoculars, and even a colander!  About 55-60 people a

We hiked to Square Top lakes in the Guanella pass area. It was about a 6 mile RT and took us up to 12,200. Overall, it seems to be getting a bit easier. At least we can breathe! Take a look at Guanella Pass on Google Earth. If you look close enough you can see the entire trail as it meanders from the parking lot to the lakes. Once again, the entire trail was above tree line and passed by tons of flowers. Rather than post a ton of the same flowers that have been posted in the past, I selected only one "new" plant to post: Gentian. Heading up to those big bumps right of center. This is very near the start of the trail, so you can see how open it is. Purple Gentian  - ready to bloom Blooming About 1/2 way another creek -- another garden of flowers Getting pretty cold and windy -- mountain conditions at over 12,000' Heading towards upper Square Top Lake More Gentians -- this time pale with purple tips - just before bloomi

We can readily watch the weather from the deck of the house, the deck that has a clear view of the ski area (Peaks 10, 9, 8, 7, and 6) On this late afternoon, the weather took its normal season turn to rain. So, I took a few pictures of the whole thing. Definite storm developing Getting socked in Different cloud patterns arising all the time It began to pour out -- hail actually. You can see the streaking rain in the photo Pea Size hail (somewhat normal!) The next morning after a torrent of rain over night. Sun shining through water drops.