From the Aspens to the Prairies

Continuing east, the landscape changes.  The USA is fortunate to have an almost infinite variety of landscapes within its bounds.  On Sep 12, on the way to Denver, I detoured off the interstate into the Rockies, where the aspens are already firing up.  2-3 weeks before peak fall colors, there were already some fine aspen groves between Minturn and Leadville.

It was a bright day, crisp in the day but toasty in the sunshine.  I had forgotten how intense the sun is at two miles above sea level...it's hot when the temperature is only 60 degrees.  

These aspen have grown up among the ruins of Fort Hale.  I'd never investigated the Minturn-Leadville road before, even during the 12 years I lived in Denver.  During WW II, Fort Hale was the base of the famed 10th mountain division.  The members of the division endured rigorous training in alpine skills, combined with combat, and distinguished themselves in mountain warfare against the Germans in northern Italy in late 1944/early 1945.  After the war, many members of the division returned to the Rockies to settle...and were instrumental in developing many ski areas that are world famous today.  A few are still kicking and probably skiing the slopes in their 90s.

More aspens in the ruins of Fort Hale.  After the war, the fort was used for various training purposes at times for a couple decades; then it was abandoned and razed.  The 10th Mountain Division was resurrected in this century and has served in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzogovina, and other theaters in recent years.

Aspens blazing on a hillside under a threatening sky.

My friend Chuck and I took a hike in the foothills this past Thursday.  I kicked in the black and white feature on my camera and channeled Ansel Adams when the light seemed appropriate.

Prairie grasses and red rocks merge in the foothills of the Rockies west of Denver.  This is the interface between the two ecosystems.  I'm in South Valley Park, near Ken Caryl Ranch.  Look in the other direction, to the west, and you can see a massive, modern Lockheed plant. 

Abstract grass shot.  Rains have been ample here this summer.

A black tailed deer nonchalantly strolls a few metres from us.

And onto the Great Plains.  Here the Lizards are inspecting the South Platte river near Sterling, CO.

Shortgrass prairie near Crook, CO.

A byway transits the prairie.

This building in Gothenburg, Nebraska was a Pony Express relay station in 1860-61.  It was originally a few miles away and has been restored, but this is the structure where the young, unmarried, expert horsemen of the Express would rest, pick up and drop off mail, or relay their cargo to a relief rider.  Postage was initially five dollars for a half ounce letter, from St Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento.  Verrry expensive for those days...well over a hundred bucks in todays dollars.  By the summer of 1861 the rate had dropped to one dollar; the transcontinental telegraph made the service obsolete shortly after that.

The 100th meridian runs through Cozad, Nebraska.  East of this point, moisture from the Gulf of Mexico is ostensibly reliable enough to support crops with minimal irrigation.  Farther west, not so much.  This varies from year to year, of course, but the countryside does become notably lusher to the east.

A Google Earth Street View camera car at a rest area on I-80 near Grand Island, NE.  I love Street View!

This is a sculpture at the same rest area.  It was commissioned during the 1976 Bicentennial.  It's name is "Erma's Desire".  The origins of that are not immediately apparent.

The Nebraska state capitol building in Lincoln.  It was constructed from 1922 to 1932.  This was football Saturday in Lincoln, and there were red clad Husker fans everywhere.  They sold out Memorial Stadium...about a mile north of here...for the 350th consecutive game, and the Huskers beat the Oregon Ducks 35-32...mainly because the Ducks refused to kick points after touchdowns, despite having a good kicker.  They tried all two point conversions, and failed on 4 of 5.  WTF??

The building is imposing.  It houses the only unicameral state legislature in the US.  The state capitol in Bismarck, ND is also a high rise.

The capitol dome has fine mosaics, with a statue of a farmer sowing seeds at the top.

Abe Lincoln stands in his namesake city.  He looks a bit downcast here.  Maybe he's wishing the Fighting Illini could have a team as good as those of Nebraska and Oregon.

Two churches in Lincoln...one old, one new.  The older one in the foreground looks quite a bit like the one in Jackson Square in New Orleans.

A motto and a mosaic of sturdy pioneers and oxen grace the Capitol.

Iowa.  Lush corn and many windmills.  The land in Iowa oozes fertility.  You can almost feel it.  The insects keep up a steady drone, tripping out on the lush vegetation.

Soybeans.  Abundance.

This tile mosaic of a plow tilling the soil is in a rest area on Interstate 80 west of Des Moines.