camping at long draw

For our weekend (Friday), Georgia, Rach, Dow, and I went camping at Long Draw.  Which looks something like this.  

Yes, I agree, it is quite beautiful.

On the way there, I had my nose stuck in the directions for my new watch and Dow scolded me, telling me that's why I never saw wildlife.  So I put the directions down and started looking.

I shouted, DEER!

But alas, they were big horn sheep.  Which I think look a lot like deer.  Except they're radio collared.  And the girls have horns, too.

And then there was this lil feller.  A little bighorn sheep!

We saw a few more wildlife - a doe with her fawn (he still had spots!) and some huh-UGE elk.  All males with massive antlers.  One was a 6-point which is pretty big.  At least I think so.

Since we couldn't leave until after supper, we got up to Long Draw after dark, made camp, and went to bed.  I have to tell you, this is the first time I can ever remember sleeping under the stars.  It was pretty cool.  And, um, when I say cool, I mean literally.

When I woke up in the morning, Dow was gone. He had gone to sleep in the truck because this is the sleeping bag he was using for a mat.  And I guess the one he was sleeping in wasn't much better.

The girls, on the other hand, were quite comfortable, because Dow, being the gentleman he is, gave us all of his good gear (you know, 30 below sleeping bags) while he slept in the not-so-good ranch bags.  I kind of think we look a bit like gophers popping up, don't you?

Dow, still being ever the gentleman, also brought us everything we needed to make breakfast and lunch, so here he is boiling our water, while Rach tries to warm herself in the sunshine.  You see, Rach is from Florida and she doesn't realize yet that mountain evenings drop into the 30s even in the summer, so she only brought shorts.  Poor thing.  She'll learn.

Anyhow, after breakfast and packing up camp we headed out to hike up Lulu Mountain - a trek of 6.8 miles to a height of 12,201 feet above sea level.    

But first we had to hike through a really boggy, wet meadow.  And the only person, again, with the right equipment (waterproof boots) was Dow.  So the girls shrieked and eeked as we stepped in muddy spots and got our feet soaking wet.

  

And see how happy Dow looks?  It's because his feet are dry.  We actually took off our socks and shoes during one break hoping that they would dry a bit.  I suppose it was good to get them aired out, even if they didn't dry. The good news is we had enough time, sun, and dry air to get our socks completely dried once we were at the top.

After Dow harassed me about never seeing wildlife because I always have my nose buried in a book, I spotted this guy.  He was actually pretty close, but after all the moose horror stories Dow told us the night, we decided to head the other direction.

Plus, there was a really nice snow-run-off stream and with Dow's handy-dandy water purifier, we could just pump out that ice-cold delicious water and not worry about microscopic bugs that would give us the runs.  Not that we were worried about that or anything...

Onward and upward, this is near the summit...as you can see, we're well above the tree line.  And I realized now, that I don't have a picture of us at the top.  Gosh darn it.  Well, anyhow, to the downhill trip...

On our way to the summit, we decided that we should ski or sled down the little snow crags on our way back.  It would make our trip faster.  Ok, so maybe it just seemed really fun.  Dow ski/slid down.

Rach and I decided it would be much more fun to use a raincoat and sled down.  Tell me how often you get to sled in shorts without freezing! 

Georgia was a chicken and just walked down the grassy area.  But this picture also shows the streams created by the snow run-off.  They're still going strong.

This is just a gratuitously beautiful picture of a lake at the base of where we camped in Long Draw on the drive out.  Enjoy!

We saw this moose and her calf just a few miles away from the ranch.

And took this sweet picture through the binoculars...it's always a good idea to keep your distance from a momma moose and her calf.  

This is a picture of the lil guy through the binoculars.  Pretty cute, huh?

And so ends our camping adventure that was made possible by Dow's equipment and experience.  I can guarantee you, we would have frozen to death, starved to death, or had the runs to death from drinking the water.  So thank goodness for Dow!!!

happy birthday to me

...and just like I said before - a day late!

I'll warn you now, there aren't any pictures for this because my camera battery died and of course, I left the charger at Dow's house.  Bummer.

So yesterday went as any Wednesday would, except with the Colorado weather of my birthday.  You see, I was born at the beginning of harvest, when the farmers bring out their combines and wait for the wheat to cure and dry.  But because this is the one time they want it to be dry, it rains.  And so it rained.  All day.

With rainslickers and the new chinks Dow got me for my birthday (maybe I'll get a picture of those), we headed out on the all day ride.  Fortunately, it was pretty uneventful.  Except that one of our cooks had to go to the hospital and is still there today while they're running tests on her.

I was in a panic about what to cook today - the job fell to me since most everyone else has Thursdays off while the guests go whitewater rafting - and was thinking what a stinking birthday!

Lars, Amy, and Dow arrived for dinner, as they do for Wednesday night singing, and asked me if my parents had called.  Nope.  An email?  Nope.  I figured either they forgot or would call later.

About that time a white suburban came up the drive and I wondered who would be coming at that time (after supper), but figured it was just disc golfers - they'll golf in any weather!  But instead, it held the whole SLEW of my family!

All of my aunts and uncles, with the exception of my crazy aunt who is currently in Oregon, started filing into the dining room with their instruments.  They had come to celebrate my birthday and to play music with Lars and Amy!

I couldn't imagine a better surprise or a better ending to my birthday!  So I guess it didn't turn out to be such a stinking birthday after.  Except for the fact that I am inching my way towards 30.  Yuck.

happy 4th of july

As goes with me on everything....happy fourth of July!  (A day late and a dollar short...including my best friend's birthday.  Except that was more of 2 weeks late.  But I digress.)

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th.  And that you took a moment to think about the reason we have the 4th of July.

But I also hope that you enjoyed the rituals that have come about since then.  Like fireworks.  As it turns out, I just learned that Dow LOVES fireworks.  And so fireworks we had.

On Friday, we took my mom and dad to the Rockies' game as my dad's birthday present.

And yes, we beat the San Francisco Giants.

The evening was beautiful and the sunset gorgeous.  

The best part was that it just happened to be a special fireworks edition, in honor of the 4th of July.

And so we spent our first night of fireworks with 43,000 of closest friends.  

The next night, July 3rd, was quite the opposite.  Tired from our late night in Denver and early morning to work, we weren't really feeling up to the social aspect of fireworks.  So we took what Dow called a "shortcut" - he knows lots of these and they aren't usually shorter in distance OR time, if you ask me - down a county road that, at some point, was no longer maintained by the county and looked like a two-track, 4-wheelin' road.   

We were about 5 miles away from the town of Red Feather Lakes' fireworks and watched them in solitude with the dog.  

Finally, last night, we went into Ft. Collins for the actual 4th of July fireworks, which are set off at City Park, 2 blocks from my aunt and uncle's house.

And we were able to enjoy those with family.  Not to mention the delicious flag cake my aunt made the and the rhubarb crumble Dow made.

So after three nights in a row, I think we might be set with fireworks for a while...at least until we go to Lars and Amy's house for New Years!

just a day

What an incredible day yesterday.  It was just a typical dude ranch day, you know.

We started out on the long ride, which I somewhat forcefully encouraged my guest, Elaine, to go on.  You see, she's never been around horses and while she said she was nervous, she settled in pretty quickly.  But she would talk herself into being nervous, even though, she wasn't really.  And I knew she'd be mad at herself if she missed it.

Once we were at the lunch spot, she decided to go straight back with her in-laws, while the rest of her crew decided they wanted to go on to Elkhorn Falls, which I lead since Georgia wasn't sure she remembered the way.

We got there.  We soaked our feet like we did last week.  I had too much of a temperature change (these falls are from snow run-off).  Got nauseated after a fast lope.  Had to calm myself.  Recovered.  Had a few more fast lopes.

And then.

I hear my guests saying, "WHOA!  Wait up!"

I turn around.

I see Frankie, Elaine's husband, sitting on a horse that is lying on the ground.

I yell to my guest to get off before he gets hurt.  Thankfully, Frankie isn't scared since his dad used to shoe horses long, long ago.

Charlie, the horse, on the other hand.  Poor ole feller.  He's got bad hips and I guess all the loping (speed before running) was too much for him.  Similar to me only minutes earlier, he was sweating like crazy and his heart was racing.  We allowed him to lay there for a while, cool off, calm down, and get up on his own accord.  And again, similar to me, he seemed to get himself back together.  We, thankfully, made it the rest of the way home without incident.

And the day went on like a usual Wednesday.  Unload a ton of asphalt to fill in the potholes of the driveway.  Eat some dinner.  Listen to Lars and Amy sing.  Go to bed fat and happy.

What more could you ask for in a typical dude ranch day?