Estes

Nonfictional account inviting readers who have never explored the Estes Valley or the Rocky Mountain National Park to do so through the experience of the writer.

Estes

-In memorandum of Enos Mills (1870-1922) a naturalist and conservationist who wisely and lovingly devoted his life to preserving 1000 square miles of Colorado establishing the Rocky Mountain National Park in 1909 for all of us to discover this magical place one day.

 

Rolling along very slowly creeping, crunching… sneaking into a hidden pristine white valley. Knee deep snow firmly compacting as it collapsed with little resistance underneath my tires was the only noise. The treads left by my tires left just the faintest mar in this, perfect place.  The sky was not blue nor was it gray, it was somehow mysteriously both at the same time.  A panorama of never-ending forest of tree trunks which all appeared to have been painted white, if not for the horizontal brown stripes and knots bursting through them, stood quietly around me.  Dark green fir branches now and again, peeked out from under the snow layering topping the aspen trees. They resembled a thick forest of white stalked, snow covered, umbrellas meandering everywhere throughout the valley, then rose climbing up into the mountains. Perhaps, I should have turned back, but the lure of this quiet place was so impossible to escape... so I crept on.  I rolled deeper into the valley along a gently winding, sporadically marked, barely discernible road.  There was no need to hurry and nowhere else to be.

Reaching the deepest point where I safely dared to explore I finally stopped, turned off the engine and stepped out. I quickly sank into the deep snow with a familiar crunch.  The entire valley was completely encircled by towering majestic snowy mountains creating the feeling that I might be standing in a colossal snow globe. The air was cold but not icy, and the warm breath leaving my mouth hung in the air with a trailing mist as clearly defined as that of smoke drifting from an old man’s pipe. Snow does have a unique smell of its own; it's like nothing else in the world.  It is an extraordinarily clean wonderful smell that makes your lungs feel as though you are taking your first breath. The boundaries of this snow blanketed valley remained obscured in the distant haze and it drifted aimlessly among the mountains that touched the sky.  Their enormous bases were grounded in the landscape somewhere far in the distance amid the indiscernible haze.

The mysterious sound of softly, gurgling water invited me to investigate how unfrozen water could inexplicably live in this wintery vale.  I crunched ahead through the snow following the watery babble.  Boulders and rocks completely covered in snow defined a narrow river basin which twisted haphazardly through the valley. It was likely that the mostly frozen river originated somewhere distantly in the mountains. Despite the depth of the ice the frozen river in some parts remained translucent enough to spot the water bubbling along underneath. Air bubbles clumped together and then were quickly pushed dancing along by the moving water underneath.  On this day the frozen river was perfectly suitable for walking on or playing all the way across.  Larger rocks and boulders in the river served as ideal natural stone benches to rest upon and contemplate this wintery paradise.  So... I did sit for a while, in the theater of the spectacular mountains listening intently for even the tiniest sound.  

Not far away, I was able to detect a hare that I had not noticed earlier; he was as white as the wintery snow and perfectly hidden.  We scrutinized each other for several moments without moving at all. A twitch of his nose followed by a wiggle of his ears was hare for hello.  This was his home and he stayed with me for a while unafraid keeping me company.  We listened together keenly and we watched for anything...we watched for everything. The bellowing of elk peeled through the solitude of the valley echoing around the mountains.  Eventually, a herd of them became barely visible as small dark specks emerging from the distant haze.  Once in a while, the weight atop the snow covered aspen trees would become heavier than a particular tree could support.  A sharp crack of an aspen limb would announce the trigger of a snow avalanche in a particular tree sending huge clumps of snow plummeting to the ground in a powdery snow shower. The powder would then billow back up from the ground surrounding the tree and linger in the air for a bit.

The sky beyond the mountains off in the distance had become darker.  The dark sky stretching from one side of the horizon to the other reminded me that I should be leaving soon.  Back across the frozen river I tromped as the speed of the wind continued to increase. The sound of the wind resembled that of incessant whispering punctuated by occasional whistling.  The wind whipping through the aspen trees setting off a cacophony of snow avalanches atop many of the trees.  The dark horizon had rapidly rolled across the tops of the Rockies with astonishing swiftness and was already upon me.  Moments later, snowflakes the size of dandelions began to shower the valley around me as the wind continued to whisper and blow.  Mother Nature had shaken her enormous snow globe sending snow swirling wildly in the wind, sweeping through the valley with the massive air currents and twisting between the aspen trees. The snowflakes then swiftly lifted up on invisible air elevators were quickly dispatched to cover the mountains.  

I closed my eyes focusing very hard to indelibly commit every single sound, smell and feeling of this fantastic valley to my mind forever. I saved all of it... the bellowing of elk crossing the valley, the collapsing of the snow umbrellas, the babble of unfrozen water gurgling beneath the ice and the wind whispering my name as the snowflakes swirled around me.  The magical feeling of being in my own snow globe, accompanied by the natural music of the mountains are etched forever in my mind.  It was a mystical moment that seemed to be suspended in time.  Swirling, twirling along with the snowflakes my soul drifted carelessly around the valley, then through the aspen trees and up over the mountains. 

I have never forgotten the magnificence and tranquility that is the special magic of Estes. I left a very special part of my soul safe in the most magical place that I have ever found, where there is only exquisite splendor and peace everywhere.  I have been unable to return to Estes again, but one day I will finally make it back. When I do return it will be to swirl with the snowflakes, through the aspen trees, across the faces of the mountains forever. My soul will laugh and dance again with the unfrozen, bubbling water and the wind shall whisper my name.  I will be at home with the hares of the valley and you can find me there.

-Sandy Miller

 

Reviews

[Marie]

I like this very much, Sandy. I have never been in a place such as this, but y ou made it seem very real. Especially effective was the idea of it all being a snow globe...one which can be held forever...

[Sandy Miller]

Thanks Marie. It really is just this way. I too had never been to a place like this before and I was inspired to try to capture this somehow in writing.