Greyrock Trail...again

 We figured it out...we hiked this same summit 12 years ago. I think it felt just as demanding.
We were in Fort Collins at the Cru15 conference. We had just finished a Bridges meeting and later that night was the county fair. It's not mandatory, but it's a dinner we already paid for and an opportunity to see friends. The nice part is that it didn't matter what time we arrived at the fair.
We quick ate lunch, packed our nalgenes, and some snacks and headed for the Poudre canyon. About 5-6 years ago the area was hit buy a forest fire. It was amazing to still see the devastation.

 About half way up the trail two ladies inform us that just ahead, along the trail there is a piece of drift wood. Nestled along the driftwood is a rattlesnake. It rattled at them. Fortunately snakes don't want to use their venom, hence the rattle. It's a warning; get back or I will strike.
We were so thankful for the warning. I am pretty sure I would have died - not from the venom, but from the frightening experience of a rattlesnake next to my feet.
We saw where it was and make our way onto the grass on the opposite side of the snake. We wanted to keep our distance. Of course, we had to then find a good spot just to see it. And snap a picture.

Fire devistation

The top quarter of the trail is the hardest. You are already exhausted from hiking about two hours steadily uphill. You start out at an altitude of 5,630' and hit the summit at 7,513'. It's a good hike. So, the last thirty minutes is walking past these huge granite rocks and bouldering your way to the highest point. Exhausting, but worth it!

 Here's the view from the top. You look out over the country side of northern Colorado. You can see the brown sticks that once were lush evergreens. The burnt logs still stand tall, covering the mountainsides.

Thistle (before it blooms)

Blanket flower

 Colorado has had an incredible amount of rain so far this year, which is unusual. They usually boast an insane amount of sunny days. Here's a quote I found on the web...

"In the Denver area there are probably only 30-40 totally overcast days per year, and some of them are even fairly bright -- about 300 days would have at least one hour of sunshine sometime during the day, but only about 115 days per year fit the classic definition of "clear"."

So as a result of all the rain they've had, there are tons of wildflowers. Everywhere you look you see color;yellows, whites, purples, and reds. Here are some flowers we saw along the trail.

Mariposa lily