off Table Mesa drive in South Boulder, Sophie and I set out for Mallory's Cave.
This is the begining of the Robert Orr nature trail.
Looking south from Table mountain (NCAR).
The NCAR building from the Robert Orr trail.
Sophie finds a rock loaf.
We are almost up to the Flatirons here. You can see the boulder field in the background.
This was a little side trip before we headed up the mountain towards Mallory's cave.
It is late afternoon so the sun is coming from behind the continental divide; only fragments of direct sunlight hit the faces of the Flatirons.
We begin the ascent. Sophie is patient.
After about a half hour of climbing (maybe more), we ran into a couple with a beautiful white dog (looked like a young Lab or German Shepard type), the guy asked if we were heading up to the cave.
"That was the plan"
"Well there is a steep grade up there, the puppy might not be able to make it"
"Oh..."
The girl added "There is still alot of snow, but you get a nice view up around the corner."
I am thinking that Sophie doesn't have a problem with snow, it's bare rock that she can't handle.
So here is the view from around the corner.
And here is the final ascent - it is steeper than it looks.
The sign tells about bats and how these habitats are off limits during certain times of the year.
Sophie immediately climbed about half way - up to the area that doesn't have any snow - then came back down; I did the same but not nearly as gracefully. I try to be a little more cautious when Sophie and I are alone on the trail - particularly when it is late in the day and we might be the last ones on the trail, so we turned around and headed home :-[
