In the mountains where we hiked two months ago, snow has been falling. The San Juan peaks are now white-capped. Ski season opens tomorrow in some locales.

Here, leaves are just starting to turn, but in Colorado, winter has arrived. Wolf Creek Pass, pictured above in mid-August, may receive 40 inches of snow from the storm that’s still pummeling the southwest part of the state.

It’s the flip-side of all that mountain beauty. The high altitudes are the first to catch the white stuff. If I lived there, I’d have to adjust. Take up skiing, at least the cross-county kind.

Instead, I’m here in this green-and-orange cocoon, trying to imagine these peaks in winter white.