Winter wonderlakes: discovering the year-round beauty of nature

It’s all too easy to relegate evening walks, Saturday afternoon nature hikes and lakeside sunset-watching to the warmer months. But if you’re not getting out and experiencing Barefoot Lakes in winter, you’re missing something special.

Yes, winter isn’t as showy as a Colorado springtime, when late snowstorms and rain showers have turned the Front Range into a tapestry of green grasses, unfolding leaves and wildflower blossoms. But the quiet, understated, tone-on-tone winter landscape brings our focus to the little things. The deep red berries clinging to a hawthorn tree. The gently undulating shape of the land itself. The delicate covering of ice stretching across a lake.

Watch for wildlife
Speaking of frozen lakes, even if you see a flock of geese walking on the ice, never ever ever walk out there yourself. And speaking of geese, winter is a great time to look for wildlife. In fact, many birdwatchers feel that winter, with its bare trees and shrubs, is the best season for spotting bald eagles, osprey and other raptors as well as species such as warblers, snow geese, grosbeaks, mountain plovers and buntings.

If you’re out in the late afternoon or early evening, keep your eyes peeled for deer, foxes, coyotes and other mammals. You might even catch a glimpse of a sly and stealthy mink.

Create learning moments
Kids (and adults, for that matter) are usually fascinated to learn how Mother Nature works in winter, even as she appears to be fast asleep. This is critical root-growing season for trees. In the lakes beneath the ice, some kinds of fish gather into groups along the bottom to share warmth and oxygen while others stay active. Likewise, amphibians such as turtles burrow deep into the mud to hibernate, but mammals like raccoons and foxes have to stay busy finding food.

Don’t forget to look up
If there’s one thing in winter that’s just as colorful as in summer, it’s the sky. Sure, we have some cozy overcast days. But the typical Colorado winter sky is bright blue, with wispy layers of cloud being stretched and serrated by high-altitude winds. As the sun begins to drop behind the Rockies, the sky puts on an exhibit of shape, color and shadow to match any painting by Monet or Degas. And with less moisture in the air, winter nights let the stars shine even brighter and make it easier to catch a stray meteor streaking overhead.

Just bundle up and head out
Like every other season, winter is special in Colorado. And remember: the lakes here in Barefoot Lakes are public open spaces. So whoever you are and wherever you live, you have an invitation to come experience the quiet, glistening splendor of a Colorado winter day.