Weekend Retreat

After morning bike rides (Rouse took his road bike out on County Road 7 and I pedaled around the campground) we broke camp and towed the Little Guy over to Noah and Susanna's house where it would remain parked for the extended weekend while we headed for the hills.

Noah and Rouse finished up a little yard work while we waited for Susanna to finish her week's work. We were happy to finally set eyes on her! We loaded our vehicles with all the necessities and got on the road about 4:00pm.

It was raining all around as we left the greater Boulder / Denver area. We expected a three hour drive.

We took a break at Kenosha Pass, elevation 10,000 feet. It was refreshingly cool! Temps in the mid-50s. There we took a short walk into the woods, saw extensive groves of quaking aspen, and were delighted by the appearance of a vibrant rainbow arcing across the sky.

We continued on, enjoying the wide-open vistas ... expansive valleys, big sky, and mountains silhouetted against the setting sun. As darkness was descending we arrived at our destination - a cabin located near Chalk Creek (which flows into the Arkansas River) at the base of Mt. Princeton in Nathrop, CO.

yard man at work

rain clouds all around

beautiful quaking aspen trees

large groves / clones* of quaking aspen covered the slopes

What a rainbow!

cows grazing

sunset behind mountains

* Read interesting facts about how aspen trees grow!

   From US Forest Service website:

"Aspen is noted for its ability to regenerate vegetatively by shoots and suckers arising along its long lateral roots. Root sprouting results in many genetically identical trees, in aggregate called a "clone". All the trees in a clone have identical characteristics and share a root structure. The members of a clone can be distinguished from those of a neighboring clone often by a variety of traits such as leaf shape and size, bark character, branching habit, resistance to disease and air pollution, sex, time of flushing, and autumn leaf color. A clone may turn color earlier or later in the fall or exhibit a different fall color variation than its neighboring aspen clones, thus providing a means to tell them apart. Aspen clones can be less than an acre and up to 100 acres in size. There can be one clone in an aspen grove or there can be many."