We both thought we were booked here til 22nd. We decided to leave a little early cuz we are eager to see our grandsons and the other McClintock's. Even Doug. Well, when we got ready to go change our booking, we saw on the paperwork that we are only booked here til the 18th. That's perfect. Nearly. The Razorbacks have a game on tv on the 18th, so we're going to watch that and then head to Kansas on the 19th. GO HOGS!!! (Join me) Woooooo! Pig Soooieee!!
9-2-10: David tried the Monte Vista golf course today with a couple of other guys. He enjoyed the game and the company.
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| Chipmunk on Deep Creek Hike |
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| View on Deep Creek |
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| David on Deep Creek Trail |
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| Bridge over Deep Creek |
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| Deep Creek Trail |
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| Great View on Deep Creek Trail |
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| Stopping to watch the water |
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| David on Deep Creek |
9-3-10: David and I hiked the Deep Creek Trail again – went farther in this time. Past bridge. A little over 4 miles round trip. About a 3 hr hike. More berries were out, so I fully expected to see a bear. But we didn't. Saw a kazillion chipmunks (so cute!) and one very quick snake. Some hints of fall foliage! The hike felt even more wonderful today than last week because we have finally rounded the altitude corner with our breathing! Ahhhhh.
9-5-10: Church today with Alpine Ministries at the rv park. Tom Mercer from a megachurch in California (High Desert in Victorville, CA, I think) preached. Once again the music was great! Bryan Price, the regular minister, whistled a medley of hymns. One lady that sings up here sang a beautiful song, “He Grew the Tree.” Really hit home on God's creations of nature, wildlife, etc. She was going to surprise her daughter who is visiting her here. Well, the 3 of us got to talking in the laundry room yesterday and the subject came up. So I asked if she was going to sing again and she reluctantly said “yes”. So her daughter got her surprise in the laundry room! Sigh. David and I took a 3 mile walk to town today. Felt great. Saw another quick, tho larger, snake on the trail. I've seen so many these past few months that they are starting not to bother me too much any more. Crazy.
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| Trail Ride at Cottonwood Cove |
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| Cottonwood Cove Trail Ride |
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| My guide was in a world of his own |
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| Cottonwood Cove Trail |
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| Rio Grande River at Cottonwood Cove |
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| Dr. Pepper taking me across the Rio Grande |
9-6-10: Went on a trail ride at Cottonwood Cove this morning. Temp was awesome and the scenery was – well, just, wow! My horse was a 17 yr old named Pepper. It was just the guide and me on this ride. He wasn't much of a talker, so I talked a lot to Pepper, who became Dr. Pepper before the ride was over. We rode along the D&RG rail a little ways, crossed the Rio Grande River, then rode up a mtn on the 4UR Ranch property. The mtn view was majestic! Lots of Dougs and Englemans. So many of the Dougs look like they have a cross on top. Hmm. Beautiful ride along the Rio Grande when we came down off the mtn. Saw a trolley that spans across the river. Still in use. They use it to measure the river. I got some beautiful pix! Most of them have the guide and his horse in them. A few of my horse from the saddle (back of his ears). Dr. Pepper really liked to trot up the mountain trails. So when that happened I'd drop my camera to hang on. Which made for some interesting pix. Haha. Then he'd take it pretty slowly downhill. He obeyed really well. Great ride! Afterward, I rode my bike a couple of miles on the trail to town and went rock hunting. Didn't find anything too exciting. Saw a couple of ladies digging on the side of a mtn. Found out they were fossil hunting. That mtn is a hot spot for fossils. Colleges in CO come there to dig.
9-7-10: Water froze last nite. It's that time of year. 20's-30's at night. They've asked that we unhook our water each nite now due to the changing weather. Still can't get used to that idea. Used to it still pushing 100 in September in TX.
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| South End of Bachelor Loop |
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| Bec on Bachelor Loop |
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| David on Bachelor Loop |
David and I took the Bachelor Loop drive starting at south entrance. Went as far as Park Regent Mine. Beautiful views!! Turned around and came back because we just didn't want to take our big ole duely any further on that narrow road.
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| Trinkets someone found at Bachelor Townsite |
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| Virew from Bachelor Loop Drive |
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| Aspen Grove |
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| David on Bachelor Loop |
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| Old mine |
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| Cemetery on Bachelor Loop |
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| View of Amethyst Vein |
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| old Bachelor Loop church |
Saw some mulies hanging out together, the old Bachelor townsite, thick groves of Aspens (turning yellow!), Engleman Spruce, La Garita Mtns, Mt. Nelson, Creede Cemetary (most people wanted to be buried east to west so they could face the rising sun on Resurrection Day. Can you guess why some were buried north to south? Including Bob Ford), old mines, and a gorgeous view looking down on Creede. The old mines on that drive are privately owned. Lots of neat history there!
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| My dream house on Bachelor Loop |
I also found my dream house up near the old Bachelor townsite. It's for sale. Just under a million. Ok, ok, I'll keep dreaming........
Ordered Mennonite pies today, and had supper with friends in the Bear Lodge. Played cards afterward with Ann and Helen. Speaking of bears, one has been frequenting this rv park the past 2 or 3 nights. Would love to see it, but not near our camper. :)
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| What a sight |
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| Aspens are starting to turn |
9-8-10: Went moose hunting!!! That is, we went hunting for a spot where we might see some. No luck. Went looking for Big Horn sheep, too. I've never ever seen either and I so want to! But what we did see is that fall is def arriving. The Aspens are really popping today! Brilliant yellows and spatterings of red! Took North Clear Creek drive on the way back. What a beautiful day. Drizzly, cold, cozy mountain weather!!
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| What I look at each morning from my bed |
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| Near north entrance of Bachelor Loop |
9-9-10: What an unbelievable view from my bedroom window! I can just lay there and watch the sunrise hit the mtns and canyon, and the low-lying clouds burn off. Wow! Yet another view that looks like a painting. Don't want to leave here! 39 degrees this a.m. and snow in forecast again. David left to play golf in Monte Vista, and Rocky and I went for a long, chilly walk, then downtown. He and I drove (well, I drove) down to the north entrance of the Bachelor Loop. Wow. The mtn formations are very beautiful and stoic. A sight worth seeing. I didn't see any wildlife, but Rocky sure seemed to be picking up the scent of something interesting. Afterwards, I rode my bike for a couple of miles. Warm enough by now for a t-shirt, but I had to wear ear warmers due to the chilly wind.
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| Deep Creek bridge |
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| The Hubby on Deep Creek |
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| Bec loving the hike |
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| the only cloud in the sky |
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| Never get tired of this view |
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| or this one |
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| Deep in thought on Deep Creek |
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| Deep Creek Trail |
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| Bec on Deep Creek |
9-10-10: Another 3 hr hike on Deep Creek. More Aspens turning yellow. Bushes turning red. Did a dusk to dark drive on 149 to Oleo Ranch on the hunt for wildlife. Only mulies. Almost hit one on the way back. Mtns are incredible that time of day.
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| Bristol Head |
Bristol Head looked like it had a spotlight on it with the sunset hitting it. Then, there was a sweet crescent moon and Mars (?) nearby and the afterglow of the sunset. Made me forget about not seeing the wildlife!
9-12-10: Last service of Alpine Ministries for the year. Lots of good singing. Rode bike 2 miles. David did 3. Played “Panties” with Ann tonite. She beat me as usual. Heard a couple of those homemade planes flying around while we played. We have a great view of planes coming in and out over the rv park. Small airport. Very picturesque. Rocky moving very slowly today. Seems to be back left leg.
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| View near North Clear Creek |
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| Becky and Ann on backroad, North Clear Creek |
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| Aspens near the Continental Divide |
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| David and Becky |
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| On the way to Lake City |
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| Near Slumgullion Pass |
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| Near Lake City |
9-13-10: Drove Ann/David to Lake City today. Went up Oleo drive on way home. Saw no moose nor bears. One mulie. But, wow, the Aspens are outstanding now! Florescent yellow! And quite a few of the rare red ones.
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| Old silver mine on Bachelor Loop |
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| Abandoned mine on Bachelor Loop |
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| old railcar track at the Creede mines |
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| Bachelor Loop |
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| David, Ann, Me, David on Bachelor Loop Dr |
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| Aspens on Bachelor Loop |
9-14-10: David/Ann took us on the entire Bachelor Loop Tour from the north entrance. Sooo interesting and amazing. More brilliant Aspens up there! Deserted mines everywhere. Makes me want to go rock-hunting.
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| Alpine Loop Marmot |
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| view at beginning of Alpine Loop |
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| mtn on Alpine Loop |
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| Alpine Loop |
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| Wow! |
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| Our Alpine Loop "Jeep" |
9-15-10: Saw marmots and a coyote on the way to Lake City this morning. Took a guided “jeep” tour out of Lake City. Our jeep turned out to be a 4 wheel drive Suburban. Took Alpine Loop Drive. OMG!!! Pix don't capture it and I don't know that I can describe it. Running out of adjectives to describe the beauty God has created. Send me some words to use?
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| Bec on Alpine Loop Tour |
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| Feeling great on Cinnamon Pass |
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| Gotta cover the ears on Engineer Pass |
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| Shelf Rd on Alpine Loop |
Went over Cinnamon Pass and Engineer Pass. Both incredible. Some shelf road. Know what that is? And a little chilly at the tops. All dirt, 4x4 rds. Engineer Pass was pretty adventerous. Don't know that the road really qualifies as a road. And it's a place the driver best have himself together. One wrong move, and a vehicle could roll about 13,000 ft down the side of the mtn. Evidently, it happens fairly often. They encourage people to travel the Alpine Loop clockwise. But, of course, we met a few who didn't. Treacherous squeeze when we met someone head-on. They are practically in the car with ya! We met one lady who was by herself and scared to death. Don't know why she was doing that. But we had a fairly lengthy conversation with her as we were trying to get around each other. Really, really a blast. Something I'd recommend and something I'd def do again!.
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| Amazing view near Engineer Pass |
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| a little chilly near Engineer Pass |
We stopped at an awesome lookout just before the Engineer summit. There was a huge variety of mtns surrounding us. And we could supposedly see a Utah range. Btw, the guide, a NY passenger, and David and I are all retired educators. So funny – when we weren't goo-gooing over the sights, we were talking about how thankful we are to be out of the school biz! Started at 9:00 a.m. -- ended at 6:00 p.m.
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| Our tour guide took us in this mine |
Saw sooo many deserted mines. Got to take a brief tour of the Hard Tack Mine. Got some interesting rocks for the grandsons – look out Justin and Brooke – we're bringing 'em rocks!
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| ghost town - Animas Fork |
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| Abandoned mine at Animas Fork |
Stopped for lunch at a little ghost mining town – Animas Fork. The Animas headwaters are in that area and it's so rich with minerals that the river and its rocks are white!
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| American Basin |
Saw the American Basin. Amazing! Would love to see the flowers there in early summer. But in Fall it's quite breathtaking, too!
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| White Cross Mountain |
There is one mtn on those backroads called White Cross Mtn. It literally has a white cross at the top. (see pix) I don't mean manmade either. It's in the rocks. Natural!! Now, to me, that totally reinforces Who created all this beauty!
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| Our 1st - and only - moose in CO this year! |
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| chewing on some Aspen leaves |
AND FINALLY – WE SAW OUR FIRST MOOSE!!!! I had reconciled myself to the fact that we were prob the only 2 people who had ever been to CO in Sept. who did not see one.! We were on our way back to Creede and saw it just after Slumgullion Pass. Sooooo pretty. They have the cutest faces. He/she was just standing by the road chewing on Aspen leaves. Ann C., I can see why ya'll thought they were donkeys that one time. When his ears went up, it did resemble one. No antlers, so we weren't sure if it was a female or a young male. And although we stood there and took pix, we didn't plan on getting close enough to determine gender. We hear they can get pretty agitated.
9-16-10: David played golf again today. He's been enjoying the CO weather on the golf course about once a week since we got here. I was going to join them today, but we are trying to nurse Rocky back to health and I just couldn't leave him for half a day. He's a little older than us in doggie years. And he's starting to get the ole arthritis, (which we can relate to.) Some days he is as frisky as a pup. (which we cannot relate to.) But now and then he has 2 or 3 days where he can barely move. So we have to pump him with steroids and baby him a tad. (still talking about Rocky). He went with us yesterday on the Alpine Loop and slept through much of it. But when we did get out, he seemed to feel pretty good in that cooler air at the high elev. Guess he just likes to be high. (and STILL talking about Rocky).
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| Miner's Creek Trailhead |
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| David on Miner's Creek Trail |
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| a little steep, but great views |
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| No bridge here |
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| hiking through the rockslide |
9-17-10: Last day of activites in Creede. Tomorrow is our last day, but we will be cleaning and doing laundry and watching the RAZORBACKS! So, trying to wrap up anything else we want to see or do today. Took the Miners Creek Trail – about a 4 hr hike. Beautiful. A few steep parts, and a 2 or 3 rockslides we had to climb thru. Otherwise, fairly easy. Crossed Miners Creek about 4 times: twice with a little bridge, and twice without a bridge – just had to wade thru the cool, beautiful water.
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| our first cairn |
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| The Alpine Meadow at the end of Miner's Creek Trail |
We built our first cairn. Designed it to point to the brilliant golden aspens ahead on a mountainside. Great hike! Great workout! After a late lunch, I went rock hunting down by the Bachelor Loop North Entrance. No great finds, but fun.
Welp, we are heading to Kansas from here. As we wrap up our visit in Creede, we both realize how much God has blessed us to be able to have these adventures! Please continue to pray for our safe travels!
Love,
Arnold Palmer and Mountain Mama
