Discovery and Braille Trails

Discovery and Braille Trails

Look closely. See the subtle differences in color and structure that separate the spruce from the fir from the pine. Watch for trout in the sun-splashed Roaring Fork River. Observe the trail surface as it changes from rock to duff to hard dirt. Everything you see is vivid and crisp at this altitude, outlined as sharply as comic book characters. Now close your eyes. Clasp the thin rope that guides you through the same forest, and experience instead the different smells and textures of spruce, fir, and pine, the sound of the wind as it stirs the boughs high above, the uncertain and ever-changing feel of the trail beneath your feet. If you have your sight, these twin interpretive trails enable you to experience the mountains in entirely different ways. If you are blind, the Braille Trail offers unique experiential interpretation of the subalpine wilderness below Independence Pass. Signs along both short routes describe the forest and riparian habitats that trim the adolescent Roaring Fork River as it spills toward Aspen.

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