White-tailed ptarmigan cover. The white-tailed ptarmigan was introduced into the Sierra Nevada of California, Wallowa Mountains in Oregon, and Uinta Mountains of Utah in the 1970s. It may have been native here during the early Pleistocene but became locally extinct due to climate changes with greater snow-cover in spring impacting on its breeding season. Alternatively, it may have been unable to colonize the Sierra Nevada because of the barriers provided by the Columbia River and the Great Basin, and the low altitudes of the intervening South Cascades. This herbivorous bird's diet varies seasonally. Nitrogen-rich snow buttercup leaves are favored in the spring
Buffalo Mountain Trail the Gore Range. Looking like a fattened herbivore curled on its side beneath a covering of winter snows, Buffalo Mountain overlooks Silverthorne, Dillon, Keystone, and Frisco. Buffalo Mountain Trail ascends through a lodgepole pine forest, past exposed rock formations, into a steep boulder field of krummholz. The trail continues along the east-facing ridge to a nearly flat tundra near the summit. Buffalo Mountain offers views of the Ten Mile Range to the south, Grays Peak, 14,270 feet, and Torreys Peak, 14,267 feet, to the southeast, and the Ptarmigan Wilderness. Greatest Hikes in Central Colorado: Summit and Eagle Counties, a hiking