Cache La Poudre Scenic Byway

Our last day in Colorado, Tuesday, found John and I on beautiful Colorado Highway 14 from Fort Collins to Cameron Pass.  We saw everything on this drive;  from the spectacular Poudre Canyon, and rushing Poudre River, to vast forests and mountain meadows to high snow-capped mountain peaks.  Guess I should just start from the beginning, when the road followed the meandering river for quite some distance.  The Poudre River offers some of the best white water rafting in Colorado, and we saw many rafters putting into the river.

It could not have been a more perfect day to be out on the river!  The river is also one of the West's finest trout streams.   And this was one drive when we really felt like we were in a canyon- towering massive stone walls arose up on both sides of the highway.

Looks like one massive sheer wall, right?  But the road does go right in-between the rock!  About 50 miles up the canyon the road drops over 10,000 foot Cameron Pass.

We were told by a couple running the Visitor's Center to look for moose in this area, and we found a bull.

The highlight of this trip for me was a mountain meadow splashed with the brilliant yellow of buttercups and arnica, a type of daisy.  It is pictured below.  Well, there was another good moment for me when, while hiking around the Wright Reservoir, I found a patch of the delicate yellow glacier lily.