Whew! Wild couple of weeks, flash flood & Cameron Peak fire damage

 It's been busy around here for the past couple of weeks. The resort has had a bit of a problem with a bear making it's way through on a weekly basis so a bear trap was put out in a attempt to catch and relocate the bear. No success so far.

Scenic spot for a bear trap, set during the week when 
there are fewer guests around. Baited with pears and chocolate syrup.

Many of my readers are aware that there was a 200,000 acre fire at the west end of the Poudre Canyon, over Cameron Peak and down towards Estes Park and just around here too (yikes!) during the fall of 2020.

Quite honestly, we have avoided going to see the fire damage as it was bound to be as upsetting (or more so) than the widespread beetle damage.  Well, last week a flash flood event occurred about 10 miles west of us and the resulting mudslide destroyed 5 homes and took the lives of at least 3 people. From what I've read, the burn scars that are associated from a wildfire ravaged area prevent the absorption of rain water which eventually destabilizes the soil. As you can see from these shots, not only were trees dislodged but also huge rocks and boulders tumbled down as well. So sad. 

The area destroyed was in a hollow which funneled the debris 
and mud/boulders right down through it to the river.

The bridge survived but it's partially plugged up by the debris
which includes the remains of the smashed houses.

All we saw down our way was the river running high and black from ash with logs and other debris coming by. It never exceeded it's banks here but it did leave a trail of logs and stuff all the way down the canyon and ran muddy for a few days.

The Poudre down by us, flowing fast and dark from ash & mud.

Even though the wildfire burn damage really had an affect on the landscape, there is still plenty of pretty to see.  Lots of wildflowers and with all the rain, plenty of greenery.

Fire damaged stand of pines

A path through the wildflowers - lots of pollinators too.

A sign showing a map of the Cameron Pass area also shows Rustic for an idea where we are this summer.

Rustic is located just north of Rocky Mntn Nat'l Park

We had a picnic lunch packed so we proceeded to continue west towards North Park. The landscape out there is more like what you'd see on the high plains - long views with "lotsa flat".

This rancher is safe from the Zombie Apocalypse, lol.
There are mountains at the far end of the shot - too hazy to see.

Hazy day makes it hard to spot the mountains in the background.

Plenty of standing deadfall, which on some private lands has been cut and stacked in large burn piles. I wish they'd cut it all down and let it be used as lumber, firewood etc rather than just sit there making the landscape look so dead.

All the pale brown on the hillside is beetle kill.

Just 2 of the many burn piles. Some trust lands and state forest
lands are being lumbered.

We had some lovely views during our drive and a good topline view of the Cameron Pass areas heading back east. It was a hazy day though, we likened it to a "Uzilevsky" moment. He was known for his linear landscapes.

Uzilevsky moment heading east

Once back home I prepped our rack of ribs by dry-rubbing them and making my special marinade/mopping sauce.

And an everyday visitor to our next door neighbors site is this guy - soo cute!

This post seems kind of long, hope you didn't get bored. Thanks for visiting!

Part 2 - coming home through Rist Canyon Road

After our shop up, we picked up a Firehouse Sub to split and headed back home via the route through Bellevue up the Rist Canyon Rd to  Stove Prairie Rd and eventually west on Hwy 14. Such a pretty area, we saw a white picket fence with hollyhocks in bloom in front of it - wished I'd been able to take a pic, but not to be, (next time?).

Found a likely spot to pull over and have our sub - what a view, what a lawn! 

Our lunch spot at the top of the hill. Great view.

Once we made it back over to the Stove Prairie Road we decided to make a foray into the Sky Corral Ranch byway, part of which is open to traffic.  Apparently they host events on the property and we could certainly see why - gorgeous. Horses, llamas and stone buildings, nice!

A lovely came over to check me out.

Cool artwork on the door.

Me thinks the big boss lives here.

Check out the horse bronzes.

I'm amazed at the number of yellow daisy bushes up on the north side of the canyon wall by our RV resort.  Another thing we have in abundance is cottonwood fluff! Some days it's looks like it's snowing.  The laundry building had a frilly, pretty, pink peony so I included a shot of that too.

Tons of yellow daisies.

Cottonwood fluff (all over)

My Mom used to grow peonies in Roch, NY - so pretty!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit, I hope it brought a spot of sunshine to your day.

A visit to town and the CSU flower trial gardens - part 1 of the day.

 It was the day for a shop-up down in Fort Collins and my sweetie offered to take me by the CSU Flower Trial Gardens, which are awesome!  A bunch of new varietals are planted each year then their performance is studied over the course of the season. 

Every year that I am out here I make it a point to stop by after the flowers have had a chance to flourish a bit. What a show, not only are the flowers the best, but the buildings and grounds are so pretty too. This is going to be a bit of a flower-heavy post.

It doesn't matter if you like full-sun ground cover, tall stately blooms or shade-loving begonias, they're all here.  Every newly-striped or spotted petunia, every gorgeous dahlia, or daisy or "you name it" flower. They also have a section for less commercial offerings such as those that attract pollinators, butterflies and the like.  It's a magnificent show!!

Linda's in her happy place!

The rest of the trip back up the canyon was remarkable too, but I'm saving that for the next post.  😁  Thanks for stopping by!

The 4th is behind us and nary a firecracker was heard.

 Our park was jumping over the 4th of July long weekend. People came out of the woodwork, it seems like every RV was occupied. Tons of gatherings, pavilions, tents and picnic tables galore, kids, bikes and dog walkers. The weather started out beautifully, sunny and warming right up but as the afternoon came on the cooler air and rain clouds made an appearance, but did keep it from getting too hot.  I only heard 2 firecrackers mid-day, I think nobody wants a repeat of the fire last year. 😢

Usually ours is the only car but not on the 4th

Now, it's mid-morning on Monday and things are definitely clearing out. Back to what is considered normal for us.  Over the weekend I had a great opportunity to get reacquainted with one of my neighbors named Donna.  We seem to both have artist's souls and crafting is a way of life for us. One thing I have been missing is my crafting buddy, Shawn, formerly on the catamaran 'Libertas' but now living on land in Tennessee. Hopefully Donna and I will have an opportunity to do some crafting/visiting over the summer.

Shawn and I having fun, circa 2010

Some people knit or crochet but I enjoy making (and giving away) beaded paperclip bookmarks, or working on a fabric trivet. It's busy work but I got used to doing something crafty to while away the hours while living aboard 'Dreamtime' and I still enjoy it.  Lately, it seems like I cook to while away the hours and I have to say Ed loves my efforts, lol.

Easy breezy bookmarks, they never fall out!

Fabric wall art/trivet, more of these including the process
can be found at this link - TRIVETS

About 2 weeks ago Ed ordered one of those triangular shade cloths to bring a bit more shade into the center of the yard.  We were getting some pretty hot afternoons (mid-80's) there for a while. The funny thing is after it came in and got hung up we fell into a chilly/rainy weather pattern, lol! It is great though and I know we will surely be needing it again soon.

Ed's ready for the sun.

I love looking around at the various flowers, flags and other patriotic signage here in our "neighborhood". A few examples to follow.

These are the most beautiful columbines ever!!

These folks were also flying a U. S. Navy flag.

With a last shot of the morning sun on the canyon walls I'll leave it with you. Thanks for visiting and feel free to comment! Until next time.

Everybody takes care to be presentable and welcoming.

Groceries & lunch at Odell Brewing before the 4th

 Well it was 2 weeks since our last shop and we were getting low on a few things, also a bit stir-crazy. It's been a rainy, chilly several days, lows in the high 30's to mid 40's and highs in the 50's and 60's. We wouldn't dare complain, not when we see all the heat records being broken out west and around.

Anyway, we headed out after breakfast around 8:30 and started down the canyon. What a beautiful drive, the river running alongside the road and sparkling in the sun.

Poudre River by the waterfalls

We decided for a bit of a change to take the "back" road out of the canyon, the Stove Prairie-Masonville road. It heads out of the canyon towards the south and comes out at the Horsetooth Reservoir south and west of Fort Collins. 

We took this route many times in '19 while coming to town so we would end up at the Council Tree library, where I could fetch a new pile of books with which to amuse myself. Even though we wouldn't be stopping in there this trip, as we brought many books to hold us over, the ride along the reservoir is always a treat.

More Poudre River action

Here are some shots around the Horsetooth area.  So pretty, and I think it's got some great looking geological features. Check out the rock rims running around in some of these shots.

When enlarged you can see a curved line of rocks
on the far left and  line of rocks riding the ridgeline on the 
right hand side of the shot. Really neat looking.

A shot up at the top of the entrance to the Sail & Saddle Club.

You'd get your workout in climbing down/up this road 
down to the Sail & Saddle Club.

Pretty flowers at the top.

After a small bit of an autotour, we headed down into town where we hit all the "usuals"; Home Depot, King Soopers, car wash, and gas station.

Generally we leave the grocery store until last and the Boss does the fuel-up and wash off while I'm shopping. After the Home Depot or Walmart stops, we break for lunch and lately it's been the Odell Brewing Company for us. You go into their taproom (which is a large open area) to get your beer, then outside to their fairly extensive grounds where everyone spreads way out. There is always(?) a food truck or 2 around where you can get a bite.  Very enjoyable and outdoors.

They have these huge hanging baskets full of
a mix of various gorgeous flowers

This time the food truck was Dan's Van and we got to split a delicious green chili, caramelized onion, crisp bacon, cheeseburger - wow! Totally satisfied us - add to that an order of onion rings and we were almost in a food coma. Sorry, too hungry to take a pic.

Out behind and to the right, the grounds spread out into the grass
 under the trees where there are chairs and rock tables.

Auto-touring around Red Feather Lakes and nearby Dowdy Lake

( A word about the Blogger issue regarding the header photo, they broke their widget and the pic doesn't display properly, so I'm removing it for now. Don't mess with your header is the lesson to be learned here. ) 😞

The other day was sunny and perfect for an auto-tour of the Red Feather Lakes area, which is almost directly north of us by about 12 miles. First off though we wanted to head north then west on county road 86 aka Deadmans Rd.to see how far we could go, just scouting it out.  Eventually, we hit the dreaded "Road Closed" sign and after having noticed quite a bit of logging (beetle kill or maybe fire damage) going on in the area wondered if it was closed for logging vis-a-vis for weather-related conditions. At any rate, we stopped for a leg-stretcher and look-about and spotted this huge, rather stately but unhealthy aspen/birch (?).

These limbs look so artistic looking up
through them at the blue, blue sky.

While we were stopped an older, local gentleman hiker stopped to chat with us about the area, the fire last year and how people, especially tourists, just were not familiar with proper woodsman behaviors, unfortunately.  It is speculated that the fire originated from the Chambers Lake Campground area. An untended campfire on a breezy day can wreak havoc.

Well, after this interlude, we headed out to find a suitable picnic spot and ended up in the Dowdy Lake Campground, east of Red Feather Lakes. What a fabulous spot, and really just a few miles from our site.  A lovely lake, and lots of wildflowers made a perfect backdrop for lunch.

Dowdy Lake Day Use Picnic area even
has a walking path along side of it.

Mostly yellows and purples this month,
but definitely in profusion.

After leaving there, we came back down towards Rustic via 68C, or what we call the Shambala Road. It runs northeast to southwest past the Shambala Mountain Center, a Meditation and Buddhist Retreat with a lovely and peaceful Stupa onsite.  They had some damage to some of their out-buildings/tents but the Stupa itself was unharmed by the fire.

Photo courtesy of the Denver Post

Along the way we saw lots of beautiful scenery, plus the inevitable fire damage.

Talk about a meadow! WOW!

Twin peaks, lol

A bit of snow left on the mountaintops

Looks like a meditation rock in the pond - how serene

Fire damage, it's going to take a while 😢

And finally a shot of the horses grazing just down the road from us. 

Well, thanks for stopping by for a visit, and I hope you enjoyed it!