Fall River Road - Part 2

Though the clouds were beginning to build up, it was still a beautiful sunny day on the summit of Mt. Chiquita.  I had a much needed snack and water break while contemplating my next move.  As I finished eating, I noticed a handsome marmot perched nearby.

As I made my way towards this majestic fatty, I almost stepped on a closer marmot I hadn't even noticed.

Scanning the ground around me, I saw 5 marmots within a 10 foot radius!!!  And they all seemed to be quite friendly; none of them were the least bit concerned with my presence.

As I made my way around the gentle summit of Mt. Chiquita, it became quite clear that there were a lot of marmots up here.

Mt. Ypsilon would have to wait; there were a lot of photos to take.

This guy was doing some serious relaxin':

At one point this marmot walked right up to me:

He got within about a foot of me, and after I scared him away briefly, he returned for a second visit.

I easily saw more marmots on this one summit than I'd ever seen in an entire day of hiking.  I literally took hundreds of photos, and even after editing them down, I considered titling this post "100 Photos of Marmots."

Eventually I decided I needed to head back, since I still wanted to climb Mt. Chapin and hopefully see some more pikas.  Even this proved difficult, as I kept passing marmots, and as long as the light was good, I wanted to keep shooting.

On the way down I saw six marmots at once, though they were within a slightly larger radius than the earlier five (within ten feet).

This marmot was enjoying the magnificent vistas of the Colorado Rockies:

Despite being a shorter and easier climb, there was no one on Mt. Chapin.  I passed a number of people on the trail to Chiquita, most likely enthralled with its 13er status (Chapin is not as tall), and perhaps just following the more obvious trail as I had.  Chapin provided a surprising bit of solitude and, as hoped, more pikas!!

Clouds filled the sky as I descended from Mt. Chapin, and I wouldn't see the sun for the rest of the hike.  After passing the guard marmot at treeline again, I made a side trip to photograph this tarn as the storms moved in:

After a few photos, I hustled down the trail to my car, as the thunder was rumbling in the distance.  Back to Boulder and a rendezvous with Darrell (our farmer) for some organic veggies; another day, another adventure.