The San Juan Mountains have more square miles of alpine tundra than anywhere in the lower 48. And with such a short growing season (approximately 180 days), this delicate ecozone makes a most impressive effort to put forth as much life as possible before the inevitable snows. As the colorful flora peaks at dizzying levels, heres an up close view of high country gems.

White paintbrush. Rock primrose. Healthy heads of kings crown. A lush bundle of Indian paintbrush grows along a sunny
slope.

 

In this week's issue...

May 15, 2025
End of the trail

Despite tariff pause, Colorado bike company can’t hang on through supply chain chaos

May 8, 2025
Shared pain

Dismal trend highlights need to cut usage in Upper Basin, too

April 24, 2025
A tale of two bills

Nuclear gets all the hype, but optimizing infrastructure will have bigger impact