Along the Front Range of Colorado, the temperature is spiking, and I’m sweating — looking for a reprieve from the August heat. I find it along the banks of Brainard Lake in Colorado’s beloved Indian Peaks Wilderness, where the mountain air is cool, and a few rogue leaves speckled throughout the majestic aspen trees are sporting golden hues — a sign of the imminent change in the seasons. From Brainard we steadily climb along a scenic trail lined with meadows, and waterfalls, and the occasional break in the trees that offers framed views of jagged mountainsides whose every nook and cranny are brought to life by the bright rays of the sinking sun. Splashes of yellow and purple wildflowers command attention in the busy scene. When we reach Lake Isabelle, the curtain of trees gives way and the still water of the lake stretches out before us to the base of the tall mountains. The clear water reflects the entire scene in it’s vast canvas, as if it knows that beauty this divine should be captured for all to see.
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