The 123,000-acre Holy Cross Wilderness is named for the craggy (and at times considered spiritual) “fourteener”, Mount of the Holy Cross. Glacial action that occured tens of thousands of years ago has carved steep cirques and dramatic cliff faces. This high-elevation landscape is also characterized by softer rolling terrain.

The Frying Pan valley provided me great hiking access to this area where fall foliage glowed

Amongst the folds and textures of ancient schists, granites and gneiss.

My feeling of being immersed in a wonderful ever-changing painting deepened as sunset colors caressed this watery landscape.

And after a starry half-moon night, I woke early to see the fleeting silvers and golds of sunrise.

The half-moon reminded me of the orange-gold of the previous night’s Alpenglow.

As the glaciers have melted, the amount of frozen water has diminished. Now, this area is repleat with lakes and tarns. It provides headwaters to many creeks and streams.

However, sadly, in places such as the Homestake Reservoir, this water has been impounded and diverted for use by Front Range cities. Further potential impoundments are possible and I urge readers to join in efforts to halt such proposals.

Always changing and growing, let’s be custodians of our wondrous, deeply-textured, life-giving, high-atitude landscapes!