Vacation

I had taken the week of July 4th (July 2 – 6) off as vacation time. Quite a busy week, as it turned out; I made two trips to The Lot and worked in an additional ATV trip. Here are a few photos and highlights of the week.

The  first trip to Sanderling followed a typical routine; I had taken the ATV and trailer, and proceeded to fill the trailer with a load of firewood logs. I enjoyed a cooler (52 degrees) evening in the mountains. However, smoke from the Weston Pass forest fire (still burning as of this writing) was clearly visible from The Lot. (Colorado has seven fires burning at the moment, the state is super dry this year.)

Smoke from the Weston Pass fire seen from the Sanderling driveway

I came home on Tuesday, cut the firewood on Wednesday, the 4th of July. Thursday evening I was back at The Lot for a 2nd time. Friday was my ATV trip day; I had decided to return to the North Fork of the Swan River (located east of Breckenridge). I was on this route once before and enjoyed the scenery. My guide book included a side spur and indicated this was a good photo spot (not really accurate, as it turned out) and I wanted to explore the photo option.

The North Fork trail traverses a lot of mining history and gets well above timberline. However, the trail is rough with LOTS of rocks and one steep section that is a real challenge. Over the years the trail has degraded from constant use and was more difficult to travel than I had remembered. The results were worth it, though, as I enjoyed capturing the following photos:

Mountain goat – Wise Mountain

Mountain goat kid

Small herd of mountain goats

Not far from this herd of goats was the top of the trail:

High point – North Fork of the Swan River trail

Along the trail I encountered many wild flowers, including blue columbine, and several small streams.

Mountain stream

Wildflowers along trail

Columbine and paintbrush near Wild Irish Mine

Signs of previous mining activity abound in the area; I found this vintage wash plant near an old mine shaft.

Remains of old ore wash plant

Of the mine itself, only this sturdily-built 1-holer has survived:

1-holer at old mine site

Inside of outhouse

After the trip it was back to The Lot for dinner and a good night’s rest.

Saturday brought the only disappointment of the week. I had loaded up the utility trailer with ‘burn pit’ wood; this stuff is too rotten to salvage and too big for the chipper and included some stumps. However, for some disappointing reason the burn pit was closed! I had to leave the loaded trailer at The Lot and will try the burn pit when I next go up for a visit.

Load of burn pit wood

I had planned to empty the burn pit wood and reload the same trailer with firewood. The burn pit being closed changed my plans a bit. I did some tree cutting in the Aspen Grove area of Sanderling instead, then returned home late Saturday afternoon.

Tomorrow it will be back to work for me. I would rather be in the high country, not only for the scenery, as the cooler temperatures are most welcome. The high desert has been experiencing another run of triple-degree temps. In the mountains the high temps are 20 – 30 degrees cooler and night temps are in the upper 40s and low 50s, good sleeping weather.

Back on the high desert, Pam has put a lot of time and effort into the corner of our lot and it shows. This corner looks better than it ever has! It’s the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden part of our lawn; Pam has dedicated the maintenance and care to the memory of her friend who died last year.

Corner of our residential property

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny:

It’s H-O-T on the high desert.  Picture the animals and I huddled in front of the air conditioner, “enjoying” the third run of 100-degree days already this season.

Happy Trails.