Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 212, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1913 — Colorado's Wonderland [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Colorado's Wonderland

ESTES PARK is not only the wonderland of Colorado, but it cannot be surpassed in’ mountain grandeur by any other district in the world. It stands unique and alone in Its scenic majesty. It has a setting of marvelous beauty. Throughout the summer it is a garden of wild flowers —a veritable blaze of color that charms and fascinates the eye. And because of the variety of altituflff And temperature, a single species may bloom all summer, disappearing here today, perhaps, but simultaneously appear yonder where the season is not so far advanced. The columbine, the state flower of Colorado, is one of these. Where Acres of Flowers Bloom. These flowers are of every conceivable slse, color .and variety; sometimes acres upon acres in solid banks of color, at other times in huge, bright and many-colored meadow carpets. In the region above timberline, as if to relieve the bleak aspect, are found some of the flower-lovers’ treasures, the blossoms of brightest hue. Mariposa lilies bloom in millions. The dainty blue-fringed gentian is found in the glacier meadows. Among the thousand other varieties blooming every season In the park are the wild red rose, buttercup, marigold, lupine, orchid, aster,anemone, sulphur 'flower, purple locoweed, blue beard tongue, gray mountain sage, pink shooting star, monkshood, monkey flower, wild tiger lily, Iris, penstemon, stonecrop, cone flower, valerian, crane’s bill, larkspur, Indian paint brush, violet and wild pansies. Through the summer months may be found also in profnsion the wild strawberries, smaller than their cultivated brothers, but of much finer flavor. A ride up Wind river trail through the sunshot woodland of whispering aspens, in the cool of a summer morning, is a rich experience to the true lover of nature and one which he will never forget. The dimensions of this new park and game preserve are 42 miles east and west by 24 miles north and south. This region has 24 miles of the continental divide and all of the Mummy range; and it touches the Rabbit Ear and Medicine Bow ranges. In It are a score of snow-piled peaks and upward of 50 glacier lakes. Long’s peak, king of the Rockies, is the central and most commanding point in this mountain world. It stands 14,271 feet above the tides and is more than 100 feet higher than Pike’s peak. It has been rather fancifully named the “American Matterhorn," and when we consider that one side 1b Actually Inaccessible, perhaps it Is worth the comparison, for the Matterhorn has been amended on all sides, though its easiest line of ascent is harder to conquer than is the ordinary route of Long's peak. The pathway winds upward through evergreen groves, mixed with aspen at the lower levels, past babbling brook and noisy waterfall, until timberline, with itß battered, wind-blown treAfl Is reached. Shortly after all tree growth ceases and still steadily climbing upward, the edge of Boulder Field is reached. Boulder Field Is well named. It is a dreary, forbidding expanse of great slabs of granite—some as much as 30 to 40 teet in length—with boulders, great ana small, heaped between. Across this Jumble lies the way—there Is no road—and progress Is simply a series of Jumps from two to four feet. Situated at the far end is the Key Hole, a great deft in the wall of the

mountain, through which one must pass in order to climb the peak from the west side. The east face is inaccessible, as it is an enormous wall of granite, 2,000 feet high. Peaks 3,000 Feet High. Through and beyond the Key Hole one looks down upon a grand amphitheater formed by nature. Chasm lake, which is on one side of Long’s peak, at an altitude of 11,100 feet, has a setting wild as those of any lake In the world. It is a rocky rent between three granite peaks, and 3,000 feet of broken walls anl precipices tower above it. The cliffs and crags above the lake have flung„oown wreckage and strewn its shores in fierce confusion. Here and there this wreckage is cemented together with winter’s drifted snow. Miniature lceburgs float io the lake all summer. Here and there are mossy spaces, scattered alpine flowers, some beds of sedge, and an occasional flock of white ptarmigan to soften a little the fierce wildness of this mountain world. Three miles from Chasm lake are glaciers older than the Pyramids, yet always exposed to the sun. They include Hallet, Andrews, Tyndall, Sprague, Black and others. Hallet glar cier is the largest and probably the best known and is easiest of access. The altitude of the lake is 11,100 feet, while the glacier, only three miles away, has an elevation of 14,600 feet It is on the Bide of Mummy mountain, a huge mass of ice nearly two miles long and 1,000 feet high. Usually it is seen at its beßt in August, as it takes nearly all summer for the melting of the previous winter’s snow from the surface and crevasses. When seen at this time, the solid ice glitters like blue steel in the sunlight, and one finds it hard to realize that it is midsummer. Glaciers, huge moraines, polished granite floors and a score pf glacier lakes are but a few of the many records of the last glacial epoch. The moraines are Immense mounds and ridges of rock and debris deposited by glaciers that moved through the park centuries ago. Mill’s moraine, extending east from Long’s peak and the moraine in Morine park are two of the principal ones. It is between Hallett and Mil’s glaciers that the famous ice palaces are situated —diamond walled and celled, fltyshing and glinting. Here the frost king reigns supreme. This peculiar form of ice formation cannot be found at less than <13,000 feet, and in no other place in the world. The effect of entrance is one of striking wierdness. The tiny flame of your candle is caught by a million diamonds and reflected again and again. There is the blending brilliancy of sclntlllatlngvllght and fantastic Bhapes in frieze and fresco, the delicate crystals of elfin tracery and lace, a forest of fragile tendrils. It is a scene of regal splendor, more wonderful than anything that Aladdin O¥OT pictured. Bierstadt, the artist, spent months among these solitary scenes, and one of the glacier lakes bears his name. Here, for years, Lord Dunraven had large holdings. Profesor Hayden, the father of the Yellowstone National park, says of Estes park: “Not only has nature amply supplied thlß valley with features of rare beauty, but It has distributed them that the eye of an artist may rest with satisfaction oo the completed picture presented.” Give the average man half a chan os and he will want it aIL