Cottonwood pass

[tamrock]

I got to the top of Cottonwood pass in Colorado at 7:30 pm last night. It had rained and the air was fresh and clean. The pass is paved on the east side, but gravel on the west. They had the gravel part very well graded and the lite rain had kept the dust down. I remember 30+ years ago this road was a washboard rattled up dusty mess to drive over. I had a 1970 VW Karmen Ghia, I'd beat the hell out driving like I was in the world class rally race over to Crested Butte and back to BV to do my partying over that way and spend my paycheck. These days it's a nice road that any vehicle can handle without shaking the heck out of it. I wish I could photo the smell of the air after this rain. There's no other smell like that high in the pines fresh clean air after a shower. The 2nd pic is Taylor Reservoir on the west end. I saw a few great camping spots a few folks had setup over on the west end there RGINN. No crowds at all and the smell of a campfire made me wish that's what I'd be doing instead of working. It was going to get close to the high end of freezing that night it felt like up there. Perfect camping weather I'd say.

 

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[Cariboo5]

Beautiful scenery shots....

 

[packerbacker]

Any time I see water, I see fish!

 

[old digger]

Beautiful Scenery! I know what you are referring when you mentioned the smell after a rain up in the pines. Just exhilarating!

 

[3xflyfisher]

Ah, many great memories of Cottonwood Pass from 30-35 years ago. You're right Tamrock, what a washboard of a ride! Taylor Park, where the reservoir is is loaded with good fishing packerbacker!

Thanks Tamrock!

 

[curious kat]

Very pretty there & great pictures tamrock....know what you mean by loving the smells after the rain....oh how I miss it. When I was little I even use to lick the ground because it smelled so good...a mineral lack?

 

[Jdubya]

I was up there one August night in "98" and you could see a little of the Aurora Borealis, very cool.

 

[tamrock]

Taylor did indeed have fishermen camping along the shores. I've seen the Aurora a couple of times. Never from up there that must have been awesome. On clear nights it's a wonderful place to stargaze. You see then why it's called the milky way.

 

[tamrock]

Lickin dirt. Thats funny You may have just set yourself up for a good roasting there Kat.

 

[curious kat]

That's OK tamrock....I can take it. Got any "Aurora" pictures? Wish someone would post some.

 

[vpnavy]

Nice photographs! It would be neat if you had before and after. Thanks for sharing...

 

[DizzyDigger]

Absolutely gorgeous shots!

 

[RGINN]

I'll have to try to finally get over that way this year, tamrock. Fishin hasn't been great for me so far this season. I hooked a big one the other day. It was quite a fight but finally the branch broke off and I got my hook back.

 

[tamrock]

Sounds like my experiences with fishing.

RGINN, ??... I came home through south park and when I came over Red Hill east of Fairplay I saw on the hillside beyond the rock painted like a cow a sight that was like Woodstock out in the middle of nowhere. It's called the "Bloom Fest" with music and all. My curiosity drug me in there and it looked like quite the festival with all these free love look-in chicks and all. I wished I had the time to take some picture of the folks there as they were coming in from everywhere and I would have got some most interesting shots. From the distance it looked like an invasion of some kind going on.

DANG! I wished I had looked in to the stuff. I'd seen some strange things in south park before but this I missed.

 

[travel]

Miss Colorado, love the smell of the pines and my husband loves to smell the sage. I look foward to your and rginn' pic they are so pretty.

 

[RGINN]

Sonic Bloom Festival. Didn't get a lot of publicity here, but some folks I know invited me to check it out. I passed. Not really my thing, and it gets harder every year for me to be in large crowded events. I spend more time doin tactical assessment, like where the fastest exit would be, who would be a possible threat, and what action I would take if this or that situation arose. No clue why that is. Maybe I was a secret service agent who guarded the President in a former life, haha!

 

[roaddust66]

Love Cottonwood Pass. Years ago I used to stay at Rainbow Lake Resort. It is an old fish camp built in the 1940's. Stop there and shoot some photos from there. The mtns are straight up.

 

[tamrock]

Sonic Bloom Festival. Didn't get a lot of publicity here, but some folks I know invited me to check it out. I passed. Not really my thing, and it gets harder every year for me to be in large crowded events. I spend more time doin tactical assessment, like where the fastest exit would be, who would be a possible threat, and what action I would take if this or that situation arose. No clue why that is. Maybe I was a secret service agent who guarded the President in a former life, haha!

No doubt things in the high country are getting very busy this time of year. I feel better being home this week as last week was the most crowed in the Rockies I've seen in a long time. After 2008 the tourist activity in the summer months had slowed a whole lot. Starting I'd say five years ago tourist activity stated picking up more each year. I know this legal cannabis thing has drawn in a lot more tourist for some Rocky Mountain high. I sure didn't know what to make of that big shindig up in south park. I'd never heard of a Bloom fest. I'll bet that pot smokers outlet up in Alma must have made a big haul with that new age activity in the area. Ever time I drive through the area I hear them advertise that place on the radio in Alma about all the goodies they've got for the pot smokers. My exit plans have all been laid out. I may need to act on it sooner then I was anticipating.

 

[tamrock]

Love Cottonwood Pass. Years ago I used to stay at Rainbow Lake Resort. It is an old fish camp built in the 1940's. Stop there and shoot some photos from there. The mtns are straight up.

I had a friend when I lived in Buena Vista who had a FJ40 we'd go all over the hills with. Great rig, but can get a little sideways on icy road conditions. I've seen a few on their side in the ditch when the roads are slick over the years. Built like a tank they are. Just get them back up on all fours and off you go again.

 

[RGINN]

They're doin more promotion of the high country as a summer destination. In the past, a summer vacation in Colorado for a lot of the folks I know in Texas and Oklahoma meant a trip to the Pike's Peak tourist trap area. Being in retail for the last ten years up here, I am pretty much in touch with the trends in visitation. Either the promos are workin, or there's more disposable income floatin around. 'Mud Season', when it slows down for us is gettin shorter. We got into busy about a month earlier this year. Bein an outdoors type, I'm seein more people all the time in the woods. In places you have to wonder how they found out about. I usually always carried along extra firewood, but in the last couple of years I've added extra water, and a couple hundred feet of rope. Many of them come up here unprepared and no idea of what campin in the mountains at this elevation is really like. Which I think is great. Jump in it and figure out how to survive here. Natural selection is still in effect up here. There's gettin to be too many tourists in the summer, but they mostly stay safe and have a good time. And bless their hearts, you have to wonder who ties their shoes for some of them.