Last Saturday we headed up to Medicine Bow peak to share the beautiful “Snowy Range” with our friend, Heather Dodge, who drove up from Boulder to visit for the weekend.   It was a pretty cold Saturday am in Laramie with drizzling rain, but we packed our raincoats and layered up and off we went.  We had NO idea what was in store for us only 45 minutes away at around 10,700 ft. elevation.

What a magical day it ended up being … the outside temp read 31 degrees when we reached Mirror Lake and a light snow began to fall …  The whole area where we had hiked twice in the past month had taken on a completely different look and feel.  The majestic sheer cliffs of the mountains were only a faint outline when we first arrived, but quickly disappeared altogether once we hiked a little ways down the trail along the lake.  The winds kept picking up and the snow kept getting harder, but it was so beautiful that we had to stay out long enough to soak in the beauty of this place that we had now seen transform into 3 different seasons in less than a month’s time.   By the time we hiked back to the car, the roads, which were only a short time before clear, were now white and beginning to freeze – just like Lisa’s pigtails and everything the 3 of us were wearing.

Could it really only be September ?  Snowy Range indeed.  What an unexpected thrill our day turned out to be.  And only 20 minutes away, en route home,  we caught the most incredible fall foliage in the Medicine Bow National Forest – what must have been the peak of colors on this particular day.  We couldn’t have timed it better had we tried ! (will share some of those pics on a separate post)

Hope you enjoy the pics …  We’re headed back to Medicine Bow peak tomorrow am to share this magnificent area with Lisa’s sister, Nancy, so who knows what we’ll see this time.  We drove to Denver earlier this afternoon to pick Nancy up at the airport.  She flew in from East Tennessee for her first visit to Colorado and Wyoming.  More adventures start tomorrow.

Until Next Time –

The Scruffies and Our Unexpected Snowy Adventure

Karole Sessums