Photographer Jeff Olson and his wife, Joanne Plager Burke Olson, recently mad a day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. The park, 415 square miles (265,807 acres), encompasses a spectacular range of mountain environments, from meadows found in the montane life zone to glistening alpine lakes and up to towering peaks. Sun, rain and snow, moose, deer and …
Colorado’s Poudre Canyon, a glacier-formed valley through the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains northwest of Fort Collins, Colo., offers some spectacular viewing as photographer Jeff Olson and his wife, Joanne Plager Burke Olson, can attest. Jeff and Joanne recently took a hike through the canyon, which begins high in the peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park …
Like many people these days, it has been a long time since I’ve been anywhere other than La Farm in Minnesota’s Otter Tail County. So when a friend said she was selling her house in Denver where she’d lived for 30 years after her husband died this spring, and she was moving back to Whidbey Island near Seattle, I thought …
Fort Collins, Colo., photographer Jeff Olson took advantage of some nice weather this past weekend and visited nearby Rocky Mountain National Park, where he encountered some wildlife as well some stunning sights.
No matter what you call them — a convocation, a congregation or an aerie — a tree full bald eagles is quite a sight to see, as these images from Fort Collins, Colo., photographer Jeff Olson can attest.
The Foothills Trail, which connects Pineridge, Maxwell and Reservoir Ridge Natural Areas near Fort Collins, Colo., was the destination of photographer Jeff Olson and his wife, Joanne Plager Burke Olson, this past weekend. The trail is 9.6 miles long and offers a remote feeling as well as opportunities to see plenty of wildlife. It can be reached from several trailheads …
Photographer Jeff Olson has to travel only 15 miles from his home in Fort Collins, Colo., to enjoy the beauty of Gateway Natural Area (formerly Gateway Mountain Park), where the North Fork of the Poudre River joins the main Poudre River. Visitors can enjoy hiking trails, a designated launch area for kayaks and canoes, fishing, picnic tables with grills, informational kiosks …
The fall skies in the Centennial State have provided Fort Collins, Colo., photographer Jeff Olson with a plethora of colors the first part of this month.
Fort Collins, Colo., photographer Jeff Olson ventured out to Rocky Mountain National Park, located outside of Estes Park., Colo., on the first day of fall to check out the sights. Established in 1915, the park is family vacation destination that offers many outdoor experiences, including easy nature hikes around crystal-clear mountain lakes to daring rock scrambles up waterfalls and mountains. The …
Horsetooth Falls, located near Fort Collins, Colo., was recently the destination for photographer Jeff Olson. Horsetooth Falls is a 2.2-mile heavily trafficked out and back trail that features a waterfall amid national park-class landscape. The trail to the falls starts off with a slight uphill from the Horsetooth Mountain Park parking lot. From there, the trail climbs until a fork is met …
Fort Collins, Colo., photographer Jeff Olson and his wife, Joanne Plager Burke Olson, recently spent a half-day in Rocky Mountain National Park in northern Colorado, where they sampled the crowds, grabbed a cinnamon roll in Glen Haven and lunched in the car during rain and hail at Sprague Lake. Rocky Mountain National Park spans the Continental Divide and encompasses protected mountains, …
Spring is a beautiful time of the year, a time of birth and renewal. Photographer Jeff Olson recently captured these Colorado images that bear that out.
Photographer Jeff Olson and his wife, Joanne Plager Burke Olson, recently hiked the trails along the Devil’s Backbone between Loveland, Colo., and the Rocky Mountains, whee they experienced several moments of zen, a fine way to wrap up Jeff’s birthday weekend. The Backbone is a two-mile strip of Dakota sandstone that rises from the rock and soil in a buffer zone between …
Photographer Jeff Olson and his wife, Joanne Plager Burke Olson, and their dog, Sammy, recently took their first hike of 2020 at Colorado’s Lory State Park. The state park is located west of Fort Collins and north of Horsetooth Reservoir. The park is a popular destination for mountain biking, hiking, horseback riding and rock climbing and also has its own bike …
Well, here are my preliminary thoughts. My rig is the smallest, most pitiful in the whole KOA complex. I’ve walked around once — several more to come as the night lights up here at Weedpatch Camp! Some of the RVs are so luxurious and massive that the pickup-like vehicle that pulls them is more like the cab of an 18-wheeler …
To all of you who are following my little journey in search of America (or a bit of it), I am having a splendid evening. I arrived at this remote and understated camp, not far from Leadville, Colo., about 2 p.m. I did the minimum to set up camp. Only one other couple is here. They have a pickup on …
UNDER TWIN PEAKS, NEAR ASPEN, Colo. — What would each of my characters think of this trip? Starting with John Steinbeck: He would be amazed at how much more comfortable pickup trucks are now, with tilting steering wheels, heated seats, air conditioning, better shocks, tinted glass, etc. And how much more convenient a truck camper is. The one I stepped into the other day …
ASPEN, Colo — Last night, I camped about a dozen miles from Aspen, but you would not have known that billions, even hundreds of billions, of dollars were spending themselves nearby. This morning, I drove in to check my email and post this report, but I will leave soon. I wanted a Starbucks because I knew there would be free WiFi. But, …
Sundays always remind me of my father, Charles Everett Jenkinson. He has been dead for a quarter of a century now, but Sundays, I often miss him acutely. But he would never come on such a trip, not for all the money in the world. He thought camping was very silly: Why jettison 10,000 years of improvements in comfort to …
No internet last night, which is mostly good. But it is amazing how wired in we are and “helpless” when we are off that grid. Starbucks in Silverthorne, Colo. I thought of staying two nights at the Blue River campsite, but part of this experiment is trying a variety of experiences. I am even determined to do time in a …
GRANBLY, Colo. — So I survived the first night in the Steinbeck rig. Lots of little rituals are required. You scout your camp site. Almost nobody accepts the first option, so you circle the campground a couple of times. Later, when you have chosen the best available site or what in your panic you think is the best available site, …
Cache la Poudre River is Colorado’s only wild and scenic river. The upper stretch was designated under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act because of its outstanding recreation, scenic and hydrologic features, including The Narrows, a narrow cleft where the river has cut through rock walls; Profile Rock and Sleeping Elephant, two picturesque granite rock formations; and Poudre Falls, a deep chasm that roars …
On their recent Utah trip, Grand Forks photographer Dave Bruner and his wife, Sheila, crossed over into Colorado near the town of Durango to see the ancient site of Mesa Verde. “This was on my bucket list to see as I enjoy the history of past cultures. On our way, we did stop at Capital Reef National Park, where we viewed …
Gentle reader, you might recall that we just attended the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Lyons, Colo., with some of our best chums. It was a fabulous sojourn, filled with the anticipation of the total solar eclipse. By and large, these festivals, particularly the ones hosted by Planet Bluegrass, are filled with blissful vibes and fascinating diversity — oh, and …