Another Day of Beauty

Paradise Divide...I never tire of this view!

Hallie and I hiked around this lake last summer. The lake level has been lowered for winter and I was really surprised that there was very little water in it.

Fall color with the moon shining above

Danny crosses this frozen creek to show me how to step across

The Ruby Range

The view to the left at the top of the trail

The view to the right at the top of the trail

hiking back down in the snow and mud

We sat down to eat some brownies about half way down and this was our view.

This is our second day here in CB. We woke up to another bluebird sky and Danny decided to take us on a hike to a new place, Cliff Creek Trail. This hike almost killed me! We knew the hike was all uphill for 2.3 miles at 9,000+ altitude, but we had no idea that the entire trail would be mud and that the mud would sometimes be mixed with snow! It was very difficult to travel through that, and we often left the trail to walk beside it through the underbrush just to get out of the mud. We were rewarded with gorgeous views of the Ruby Range and will probably walk this trail again if the conditions are better. We could tell that the trail would be even more beautiful with the spring flowers or the fall aspen color. After supper, we went to see the movie, The Help, at the local theater and when we came back home, I noticed a big black lump in the neighbor's yard. Danny backed up to shine his light on it and we were both surprised to see that it was a PORCUPINE!