Wordless Wednesday: lumberjacks were here

Clouds roll in

I just wanted to finish up the pix from my Colorado working vacation with these gorgeous cloud shots.

Afternoon thunderstorms, or their approach, anyway, when viewed from almost 10,000 can be pretty spectacular...

I had such a good time in the mountains....can't wait to get back!

However, next up on the travel agenda is an even more spectacular expedition. There will be a blogging hiatus while I concentrate on experiencing the trip instead of writing about it. But when I get home, hold on to your hats!

Wordless Wednesday: heat gun + old paint=surface of the moon

Wordless Wednesday: beaucoup de plumbago!

Family fun on Colorado trails

It was so much fun last week to introduce this little person to one of our favorite areas in the whole

world—the lovely valley where we have our cabin, and the gorgeous mountains around it.

One of our favorite hikes around here starts at Old Monarch Pass on the Continental Divide.

So this easy trail is of course part of the Continental Divide Trail, but it's also on a loop of the Colorado Trail. (You can see the big loop on this map.)

Who knows? Maybe someday she'll want to hike the whole length of  these fine trails. And she might just remember her introduction to it with Gramma and Grampa.

[For a fun comparison, here are Henry and I in 1976 (before we were even married) near the Old Monarch Pass trailhead...

...and here we are with the wonderful latest addition to our family...

How did we get so old?! But if that's what it takes to have grandchildren—and I suppose it is—it's more than worth it!]

At any rate, our hike this time took us over to the new Monarch Pass, and back—a round trip I'd never made, for some reason. It was delightful and we had lots of entertainment along the way. 

It's a very easy trail, especially when taken at a two-year-old's pace...

...and there are plenty of things to stop and look at as you stroll. Especially since we brought our tree identification book along with us. 

Distinguishing the various types of conifers along the trail is more complicated than you might think, and provides lots of fun for the scientifically-minded, young and old. [Nix' favorite species: "boo puce."]

Of course, focusing on the trees is a little depressing, too, since so many more have succumbed to various beetle diseases over the past few years. (And we've heard that there are all kinds of new beetle kills now, including a spruce beetle.)

The prayer flags flying from this much older dead tree could be memorializing the dozens and hundreds that are dying now.

I wish the picture below was an accurate representation of how many dead trees there are in relation to healthy ones, but at least at this altitude, the ratio would probably be reversed...

But, the scenery is still great on this hike, and it's close enough to treeline that it doesn't traverse very thick stands of trees. For that reason, I don't think it will have to be closed any time soon, as a matter of safety. Many trails and campgrounds in other parts of Colorado have been at least temporarily closed due to the danger of falling dead trees.

One of our other outings took us directly, by car, to new Monarch Pass. We hiked along the trail south of there for a while, then headed up to the Monarch Crest gondola...another fun activity introduction.

The hike up to the terminus of the gondola is somewhat strenuous (and we're not the softies that actually ride up...where's the fun in that?). But the views are spectacular and were enjoyed by all...

Plus, upon descending, we had the great amenities available at the Crest gift shop at our disposal...and we took full advantage of them.

Nix got to fill a bag with pretty rocks, courtesy of Gramma
(this is one of my favorite gift items at the store)

and there was ice cream!

Family fun in Colorado waters

Thanks to Sally for taking this cute picture of the fam in the raft we fondly call the Battlestar. 

She, Travis, Henry, and I had floated on the Arkansas in it several years ago, but on a different section. This time we started at the Big Bend (not the one in Texas) put-in—one of the fabulous facilities provided by the Arkansas River Headwaters Recreation Area—and finished up at the ramp in the middle of beautiful downtown Salida.

Unfortunately the day we picked for this excursion (after needed repairs were made to the raft we didn't really have much choice) was cloudy, a little rainy, and somewhat chilly, especially for the two members of our party who couldn't get their heart rates up by paddling...

and of course Mom sacrificed her jacket;
notice Gramma selfishly putting hers on in the background

But everyone enjoyed it anyway. The first section, where rocks were more of an issue, was a little more exciting than we had expected, but sailing into town was pretty relaxing...

[Parenthetical aside regarding the raft: Henry and an engineer friend later spent 3 days designing and partially constructing a super-storage-facility for the raft in our cabin's garage:

The idea is that next time it won't need as much repair if it's stored properly. We'll see.]

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Although the raft trip was our major interaction with Colorado streams, it wasn't our only one.

We have a favorite waterfall nearby, just up a county road from Angel of Shavano Campground. I've probably visited it a hundred times, with many different groups of people, but was still quite excited to introduce it to our Adorable Granddaughter...

The water was a little chilly for wading, so she changed out of her cute swimsuit early on and actually had more fun clambering around the rocks with Dad than she would have had swimming...

She loves to climb!

More rocks and more water are even closer to our home base in Garfield. The little stream behind our cabin (whose noise makes it so easy to drift off to sleep at night or naptime) is crossed by a bridge just down Main Street. And around the bridge is a great place to toss rocks and sticks in the water, and do more rock clambering...

the shallow water here is a little more conducive to wading

I can remember when her Dad loved to come down to this very spot and play in the stream...so great to see that his daughter loves it, too!