Snow, Fires, Colorado...

Shadow mountain lake, just south of us- I went fishing with a fellow staff member and friend, Laura. She took me to a secret spot under the dam on the lake until this SPECTACULAR sunset.

Several days ago began a bout of nasty weather in MY part of Colorado- First was rain and threatening lightning, then came a series of frozen nights which left the tops of the taller mountains white in ice...
THATS RIGHT: SNOW IN AUGUST!
A network card and to routers in our building were blown out by the lightning the same morning a group of guests reported a growing wildfire just up the hill. The storm left us with no Internet- I sure enjoyed it, but it does mean that I have several days worth of photos to post!

above: A mom and babe moose in the park. 'Saw four babies, six adult females and a large group of elk on this short drive through the park. .. The road is closed before it makes any kind of ascent due to the snow and ice. This pair of moose, and a second youngin' stood and played just across a small creek from us-
And a nice wide view of the mountains at dusk.


"FLAT TOP Mountain" all in white- below- as seen from the third floor of the Rempel building at Shadowcliff


MORE FISHIN'! I took a guest out to one of my favorite spots on arapaho creek when the sky began to clear- I caught two and gave him my rod to use (he wasn't havin' any luck on his)
He found no fish, but I hooked a third immediately after he returned the rod. When I handed him the fishing pole( with a fish on the line), he began to reel. Within a few seconds the fish threw the hook and frustrated my partner further. To finish the job, I lent the rod to him again. It started to rain and he became snagged on a far log. He broke the line and began to apologize when, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the tiny float zip down the creek. It was traveling faster than the current and when I intercepted the line, I discovered a small, hooked brook trout that had picked the fly off of the log on which he had become snagged. Jamie, the Welsh guest, just couldn't catch a fish! above is the entrance road to my spot. Look at all that snow!
Below- a sucker fish of some sort. It was one of three fish that I was able to catch with Laura below shadow mountain lake the other evening. They were hard to bite, but I caught a very nice brown trout- dinner last night.
It was fun to watch all of the trout try their long jump up the flowing damn!

I spent one rainy, SLIPPERY afternoon on the clean, clear creek below Shadowcliff. I had my tripod, but between me shivering, and the swift current vibrating across the flexible legs, most photos were blurred. This one, above, came out well; a 1/13 sec. exposure. And the light at the end of the tunnel- the sky began to clear over grand lake on Sunday. This iron cross sits on 'the point' overlooking the town at shadowcliff. I reduced colour b/c neither full saturation nor blk&w satisfied me. Its alright...

I hope to be able to share more exciting, descriptive memoirs as I take on some of the area's challenging, beautiful scenery, trails and TROUT in the near future!!! SOrry I had to dump these photos in such a manner!