Mount Evans and Georgetown, Colorado

On Saturday morning Peggy and I go downtown to visit the bi-weekly farmers' market, where we spend an enjoyable hour or so mooching around and mingling with the crowd. All the produce comes from the state of Colorado and is of very high quality. I have never seen beetroot in so many colours. We buy some sweetcorn that was picked this morning and also peaches. The soft fruit is beginning to come into season and cherries and apricots are also available. We choose our brunch from the various food stalls. I have tamales, which is a Mexican dish I have never had before. It is made from corn meal, with various savoury fillings, wrapped up and steamed in the corn leaves and served with chilli sauce.

Farmers' Market

Multi-coloured beetroot

On Sunday we go for a driving tour. From downtown Boulder and as we drive out of the city I get views of the famous Flatirons rock formations which are an iconic symbol of Boulder.

Flatirons from Boulder

Flatirons

We are driving to visit Mount Evans, a 4359m peak within the Rockie Mountains. Here there is the highest paved road in North America which goes almost to the summit. The road was constructed between 1924 and 1930 as a scenic road to attract tourists to the Denver area. The tourist blurb explains that every 300m of elevation gained in the mountains is equivalent to travelling 600 miles north in terms of the changes in the vegetation, so the road will take us through sub-alpine forest, through the tree limit up to the cold dry alpine tundra.

On the way up we stop at a visitor centre close to the tree limit and visit an area where Bristlecone pine trees grow. Some of these twisted, gnarled trees are 1500-2000 years old! As we get out of the car we instantly notice that the temperature has dropped significantly and I have to put a second layer on for the first time since I landed in the US.

Bristlecone Pine

Me and Peggy on Mount Evans

Road to the Summit

We drive on and park at the summit. Here a 3^rd layer of clothing is required. In Boulder the temperature was 32 degrees and up here it is down to 12 degrees and it feels even colder in the wind. I feel slightly dizzy from the effects of the altitude. There is the remains of a building here which was built in 1941 as a gift shop and restaurant. At that time it was the highest structure in the world. Unfortunately it burned down in the 70s, but the walls remains for visitors to explore, as we would an old castle.

'Castle in the Sky'

View from Mount Evans

Looking out across the mountain range to the plains we can see a rain storm approaching and before long it starts to hail and we scurry back to the car. On the way down the mountain we see a cyclist hitching a ride and we stop and give him a lift. The change in the weather has caught him out and it is just too cold for him to continue, so he puts his bike in the back and we give him a lift. He is a tri-athlete from South Carolina and he comes to live Boulder in the summer to train. As well as being generally a very outdoor, healthy, active place it is also specifically a serious centre for tri-athletes He has a great southern states accent. As we drive down the mountain we pass hundreds of other cyclists who are obviously involved in an event. Most of them look rather better prepared than our guy, with rain jackets and gloves.

After dropping him at the base of the mountain we continue to a little town old silver mining town called Georgetown that grew up in the 1860s. The town still has many of its old historic buildings and is now a popular visitor destination. We have lunch here in a café, wander the main street and visit an old grocery store which has its original wooden fittings and tea tins.

Georgetown

Georgetown Grocery Store