God's Palette: Mosaic Monday

During our recent vacation we did 3 hikes in the Rockies. One long one, two shorter. The variety in the landscape is astounding. The above photo, taken in Grotto Canyon, reveals the monochromatic scheme of the rocks. Greys, blacks and creams predominated, relieved here and there by tenacious and spindly evergreens.
 

Here, on the trail to Grassi Lakes, the rock face behind the waterfall is browner, warmer. The forest growth is more varied, more luxuriant, yet the driving distance between the trail head in the top photo and this one is about 30 minutes.

Forest fires clouded the sky for much of our time, but as we began the drive home early in the morning, the mountains stood out clearly against the sky. I snapped most of this one, and the next, from the car window. You can see the long slant of mountain shadows on the forested slope.
 

Castle Mountain, aptly named, I think. 
 

Grassi Lakes (there are two of them, separated only by a very narrow strip of land), were named for Lawrence Grassi, an Italian coal miner who immigrated in 1912 and later became one of the area's best known climbers. He blazed many trails throughout the region including the one to these lakes.

Clear, clear water coloured the most amazing blue and green. I've never seen colour like it and I've seen a lot of mountain lakes. It was difficult to get a photo of the lake because the reflections of the mountains dominate. I wish we could have a blogger meeting up there. 

Linking to Mosaic Monday, hosted by Mary of the Little Red Barn.