Mountain Pond: A shallow mountain pond reflects the blue sky and surrounding landscape in Fairplay, Colo. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Rainbow: Following rain showers in Fairplay, Colo., a rainbow formed over the grasslands just outside of town. This was a beautiful way to wrap up our stay. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos
During a recent outing, we spent a few days in Fairplay, Colo. and toured around the area.
The mountain range to the west of Fairplay is the Mosquito Range. There are five 14ers, mountains with an elevation of 14,000 feet or higher, and several other peaks ranging 12,000-14,000 feet.
While winters can be brutal in the mountains, during the summer months they offer a cool escape from the hotter temperatures at lower altitudes.
The higher elevations are lush and green as a result of abundant water from snow melt and summer rains.
Outdoor enthusiasts love the area for its wide variety of activities. Fishing is very good in the Middle Fork of the Platte River as well as many other creeks and streams in the vicinity. Hiking, camping, mountain climbing, biking, and water sports are abundant throughout the Mosquito Range in the summer.
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country and he shares his photographs, which appear in the ‘Posts from the Road’ series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Sacramento Creek: Sacramento Creek flows through a valley surrounded by mountain peaks. The vegetation at higher altitudes is lush and green during this time of the year. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Middle Fork: The head waters of the Platte River are in the Mosquito Range. The Middle Fork of the South Platte River twists and turns as it travels toward the town of Fairplay, Colo. while thunder storms form over the higher peaks. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com