Last week, after more than two months in the high desert, we left the overwhelming heat and crowds and escaped to one of our favorite locations in the west - the San Juan Mountains in Colorado. We were introduced to this magical place three years ago by family members during a trip here to enjoy the Fall colors and we are so grateful to them for this wonderful gift! Thank you so much, Al and Doug!
We've spent a week here now and have loved every minute. It has been the perfect antidote with 70 degree weather, clear skies, wonderful daily hikes into the high country, masses of wildflowers of all colors and sizes, and views everywhere of the rugged snow-covered mountain peaks. With absolutely no one in sight on the trails, this incredible place is our ideal mountain venue.
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| Resting up before the hike! |
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| Meadows and streams everywhere! |
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| Winter dinner for predators |
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| We hiked below tree line |
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| Note the crowds on the trail |
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| Look up! |
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| Spring has sprung! |
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| Dandelion field of dreams |
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| We even found Katie's tree from three years ago! |
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| Hill covered in Aspen |
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| Aspen forest of white |
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| Our favorite meadow |
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| Recognize this A and D? Of course... |
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| Lupine exuberance! |
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| Aspen reach almost to the clouds here! |
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| Yakkity Yaks grazing near our campsite |
Oh - and did we say that the little KOA RV park where we stayed was perfect as well - quiet, spacious, beautiful with trees, grass and wildflowers everywhere in the park, and also empty... Yes!
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| Our camping spot! |
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| Corn Lilly heaven |
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| Happy cows! |
The rivers were swollen from spring runoff - many glaciated with silt.
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| Massive snow melt |
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| Uncompaghre River rushing by - now say that fast 3 times! |
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| Ahhhhh! |
Luckily - on our last day here (when we had to clean everything up, because of the dust from the back roads), thundershowers arrived, so we didn't miss another great hike. After a week of warm temps and sunshine, rain and hail are welcome here.
Sadly, we must leave tomorrow to be on our way north. But in a week, at the Tetons, we will meet up with Lisa, Eric and baby Ava and we'll enjoy a week of camping and fun! We are so anxious to see them.
Oh dam, we were looking forward to more pic's of our Personal Paradise! But hey, you've got a lot of the West left to see and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is very special, we have always liked it because it is always so quiet compared to the South Rim. I'll be checking the weather and see if there is a live web cam there.
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Guerneville guys
We have tons of more pics to share w/ you, just too many to put on the blog...Oh - we do love this place! And we've decided to wait till later in the Fall to visit the North Rim...we just we became totally "burned-out" on all the crowds in Utah - and couldn't deal with another set of door-closing exercises at 11 pm and 6 am from neighbor campers. Too many buses and crowded hikes for us at the moment. So we are headed toward Wyoming tomorrow...back into some desert for a short while then to the Tetons where we'll see our granddaughter. Can't wait! Thanks for the encouragement!
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