Indian Peaks, Colorado

Peggy and I are going hiking today in the Rocky Mountains and I am interesred to see if they are different here from Canada. As it will be a hot day we make an early start and before we leave she closes the windows and blinds in the house to keep the heat out. We drive out of Boulder and into the foothills of the Rockies and begin to climb steeply through Ponderosa Pine and Aspen trees. We drive through a small town called Ward, which is one of the original mining towns. Nowadays it is where many of the original hippies of Boulder have moved to. The houses are scattered higgeldy-piggeldy on the slopes on either side of the road where old cars and trucks have been  abandoned. 

Ward

Abandoned Truck

We drive into the Arapoho National Park and park by Brainard Lake. .

Brainard Lake

We are now at just over 3000m and as we start walking along the trial I can feel the altitude affecting my breathing. The path climbs between spruce trees which give off a crisp, fresh pine smell.

Peggy at the Start of the Trail

We cross a stream and then come out into a wild flower meadow which has so many different varieties of flower, it is impossible to count and identify them all. The flower theme continues all the way along the trail including clumps of columbine, which is the national flower of Colorado.

Stream

Wild Flower Meadow

Indian Paintbrush

Penstamen

Columbine

We come to an area of boulders to cross and when I admire that they have been arranged into steps to allow easy access Peggy explains that in the 1930s President Roosevelt implemented a programme of job creation and teams of otherwise jobless men built many of the national park trails. Thank you President Roosevelt. 

Isabelle Lake

We arrive at Isabelle Lake and picnic on a broad flat rock, where we bake in the sun lile lizards until the sun thankfully goes behind a cloud. As we eat our lunch we enjoy the sound of the nearby stream and the views of the peaks.

Me at Isabelle Lake

Indian Peaks

As we retrace out steps we share our stories about our married lives and find we have had many similar experiences, such that at several times we take up the tale in turns as if it is one story.

On the way back we stop for a drink in another small old mining town called Nederland. The attractive main street is like a set from a wild west movie, but now with gift shops, as well as the old saloon.

Nederland

Peggy takes me to visit the Carousel of Happiness which is housed in a new building inthe shopoing plaza. The carousel dates from 1910 when it lived in an amusement park on a pier in Salt Lake, Utah. In 1958 the park went bankrupt and the carousel was dismantled and stored in a warehouse. In 1986 the original animals were sold and the rest of the structure was going to be sold for scrap when it was rescued by a Vietnam war veteran who brought it to Nederland and spent the next 26 years carving the new animals to populate the carousel.  Peggy and I pay our $1 each for a ride and the carousel and its story casts its spell and we do indeed feel even happier than before.

The Carousel of Happiness

Carousel in 1986

New Man in my Life?

In the evening after another delicious dinner, Peggy suggests we watch the film War Horse. I remember that it was filmed on Dartmoor, so I am able to show her the countryside and villages near my home; so now she knows what to expect when she comes to visit.