Spring snowstorm

[Pistolero]

Visiting our cabin in Colorado for about a week, had to wait for plows to clear the road to the cabin
when we arrived - 24" of new snow the night before. Stayed a couple days, had to go to town for
some stuff, had difficulty getting back due to 35 yd visibility in a fresh snowstorm with 6" of new snow
already on the ground since we left. Got out this AM for some pix after it snowed very lightly for quite a while,
maybe 20 hours.

We snowshoe to the cabin from the road in the winter (150 yds or so, not bad) driveway is just
not practical to open up when it has sat for months, so don't even try. We are at our community center
checking e-mails and news - no phone or net at the cabin - by choice.

Beautiful day!



Glad I don't have do shovel much beyond part of the deck!

Bill

 

[Ian]

No kidding that's beautiful! We're waiting until mid-May to make our trip up there. What do you do for water?

 

[Pistolero]

Thanks, we think it is beautiful, too. We try to come up at least once per winter,
sometimes making it twice. 4x4 is pretty much required in winter and spring, but
ordinary cars are fine in summer and fall.

1200 gallon cistern for water. Could put in a well, but the pumping power would be a
huge deal for solar electricity, so spending $150 for a cistern fill every year or 18 months
isn't bad. Water flows downhill to the pump, an RV type pressure limited 12VDC unit.

Nearby wells are 150-200 ft deep, so water pumping power, while no big deal for mains
power, is a serious load for a small solar system like mine. Need a several hp pump which,
at around a KW per hp (with line losses and pump/motor efficiencies) would require more than
double my capacity and just not worth it for being up here just short periods. If we were
to live up here, would get mains power and put in a well. Nice to have never paid an
electrical bill in 25 years.

Where is "up there" for mid-May? This is southern Colorado, high elevation.

Bill

 

[Pistolero]

I love the snow up here, not so much down where I have I really deal with it in the flat country.

Helps a lot not to have to go to work in it!

Another view.



We like to snowshoe in it when we get a sunny day. Sometimes pack a picnic lunch, snowshoe out for a mile or so and
find a spot to eat lunch and look at the views. There are a couple of sledding hills nearby where you can run a toboggan
down for 300+ yd runs, and because of the terrain, wind and sun, 50 yds sideways gets you out of the snow into
grass to walk back up FAR easier. Too much snow now for that run, though.

In another couple of weeks it will start melting out and by the first of June, the wild
irises will be going nuts up here. Every damp spot will have a few clumps. Beautiful
country for visiting. Too far out to live, at least for us.

Bill

 

[Ian]

Ouray, have a house on Pinecrest (far west rim) overlooking the town from 8,012 feet. Mostly it's a place to store our inherited furniture and knick-knacks until the day comes that we can become "winter Texans", we're lucky if we can make the trip once a year for a week.

 

[Pistolero]

That is fine country, too. We are in the front range.

I have hunted elk north of Durango several times and spent time there hiking in the summers, too.

Bill

 

[Pistolero]

Trying to think of the name of the ski area near where we hunt. On the road north out of Durango, about
30 miles on the west side, there is a ski area. We go up behind that along a N-S creek, on the ridges above
it.

Bill

 

[Ian]

Purgatory, just before the highway starts to get interesting. I've borrowed their nice parking lot a few times to install or remove cable chains.

 

[gman]

Beautiful place! I bet yall really enjoy spending time there.

 

[JohnD]

Spring snow storm... Even though I'm not a devotee of snow, that's a beautiful scene and a great looking cabin, all of which beats the Spring tornado we had today. It came within about a mile of our place. Fortunately, the 3/4 mile-wide swath it cut was mostly confined to the National Forest land adjacent to our little neighborhood. Some houses damaged a mile or so from here before it hit the forest. My neighbor lost a big chunk of one of is trees due to wind, but we got that diced up pretty quickly.

 

[Pistolero]

I'll take a couple of feet of snow over a tornado any time. Glad you are Ok, John.

Yes, gman, it is a good place to spend a week relaxing and just getting away from it all.

Bill

 

[fiver]

c'mon man. pictures of snow...
I do like the cabins placement but the front range area just has too many houses and people for my tastes.
the Rifle, Grand Junction, and Meeker area is more my style [but still too populated]

 

[Pistolero]

Vacation home, so needs to be somewhat accessible if we are to ever get there. I like the Rifle area,
too, but really too far to easily travel. This is about the limit of one full day of driving.

Bill

 

[fiver]

I can see where it would be no fun if you have to stop and pay for a hotel room in between the house and the other house.

 

[Pistolero]

Yes, and how about two days out and two days back "overhead" time to visit the cabin for
5 days away from home? Back when we were working, that was a huge part of the deal,
not as important now.

Still a pretty quiet place.

Bill

 

[Ian]

Spent a week in Buford once, just east of Meeker, before the old man who ran the store and lodges there died. The place just isn't the same now, had to stay at a different lodge (their schtick is horseback rides to see giant Aspens, and filthy, rodent-infested cabins) and now I just skip that part. The porno graffiti carved on the Aspens for miles of up by Avery lake is something to see. Avery and Trapper's lakes have been not so good fishing the past few years, ever since the fires in the areas, but I caught quite a few keeper Rainbows out of both a time or two before. Take the county road from Rifle to Buford and skip Meeker, that's a "scenic route". I'm pretty sure the sewage pump station at the intersection where that road dumps out on I-70 was featured in one of Mike Rowe's "Dirty Jobs" shows.

I hear you on the "overhead time" Bill, it's an even thousand miles doorstep to doorstep for us to Ouray, one LONG day's drive and another half day, then two days to get over the neck and arm cramps, three days of good vacation, then time to start heading home. I asked my wife to just highlight/right-click/delete New Mexico so it would only be a ten hour trip, but it didn't work.

 

[Pistolero]

Never been to Buford, looked at the sat pix just now. Looks like nice country east and above that area. North Fork White River may
hold some trout, but may be overfished, being so close to the road.

Our record for going to our cabin is about 9.5 hours, but if we dawdle over lunch and
dinner, remember some forgotten grocery items and stop, it can be 12 easily. Still, one
day will do it, which is nice.

Bill