Lone Tree

That sign greets the hiker or bicyclist heading up the loop trail on the county land behind my niece's neighborhood. I haven't seen a rattlesnake yet, which is a good thing, I reckon, but I am on the lookout. The county land, undeveloped except for a few trails, is hilly, covered with wild grasses, flowers and various kinds of scrub. There's an insect doing his insecting here:



The wind was blowing, making the flowers "toss in sprightly dance", so I snapped three or four photos in hopes of getting one more or less complete flower. It didn't turn out too bad, after a little "enhancement" on the computer.

Looking north from near the top of one of the hills, one can see what look like two downtown areas. Lone Tree is a fair distance south of Denver, and one of the high-rise areas is pretty close. My niece said she's pretty sure that's what's called DTC: Denver Tech Area, where a lot of businesses considered technologically oriented are clustered. If you look really carefully, you might be able to make this area out on the right horizon. "Real" Denver is also on the horizon, way off, and toward the left edge of the photo.



This photo, which I also shot looking north, gives an idea how many houses there are in the area, but also what a good job they've done bringing in trees among all the development.



Lone Tree houses mostly seem to be large. In my niece's area they have two stories, plus basements, adding up to a lot of square footage inside. In this shot, you might be able to spot my Element parked in my niece's driveway. The open space in the foreground is part of the community space in the neighborhood, which includes parks and wide sidewalks for exercise and dog-walking.