Teig was resting on a snow field off the Nystrom Trail in the Vasquez Peak Wilderness of Colorado. This is one of the quintessential hiking trails near Winter Park and he needed to cool his paws off and roll in the snow for a bit. He was done cooling off and was eyeing our present route up the mountains.
Shroom next to Granite Boulder
A cool looking mushroom near the Vasquez Creek trail outside of Winter Park Colorado. I believe this is the species Laccaria laccata.
Landscape Photographer on Mount Evans
This was the other photographer on Mount Evans that evening trying to capture the fantastic light after sunset. It was fun being the only 2 souls on the summit just as dark was descending over this Colorado fourteener.
Lone Rocky Mountain Goat
A lone mountain goat grazing on Mount Evans on a summer day as the it was beginning to snow. This is typical even in August above 14,000 feet amsl in the Rockies of Colorado.
Traildog on the Ridges near Whale Peak
Teig and I love hiking the Rocky Mountain highlands in the Front Range Mountains west of Denver. There are locations where you don’t run into a single other soul on a hike. This was one of those days when we hiked to Whale Peak in late summer.
Natural Container of Colorado Alpine Buttercups
Who needs a store bought container for your Colorado Alpine Buttercups? On the trail to Stanley Mountain I found this fantastic container of the flowers which nature provided. You just have to hike 4 miles to view them.
Teig Focused on the Trail from Glacier Peak
Looking towards Mount Guyot from Glacier Peak in the Front Range mountains of Colorado. So awesome to be hiking these alpine ridges with my Colorado Traildog Teig.
Colorado Alpine Sunflowers near Glacier Peak
We passed through a wonderful meadow of beautiful alpine sunflowers on our saunter up Glacier Peak in the Front Range Mountains of Colorado. Such vibrant yellows cheers the soul of any hiker!
French Pass in July
Above Breckenridge Colorado sits a beautiful mountain pass that is joy to hike to… French Pass. This pass sites between the mammoth peaks of Guyot and Bald Mountain. In July there is still snowfields at the pass which are cool playground for dogs and hikers. We are looking towards the french creek creek and the valley to the east of the pass.
Dahlias in Golden Colorado
These beautiful Dahlias were blooming in the garden containers along Washington Avenue in Golden Colorado. The city does a fantastic job with the flowers along the main street. Kudos to them for keeping Golden a beautiful place.
Bull Moose at Maroon Lake
This bull moose was roaming Maroon Lake above Aspen Colorado. This is the location where people get the iconic images of Maroon Bells and this guy was creating excitement and some havoc with the photographers. I was definitely enjoying the scene and watching him run off some of the folks.
Alpine Buttercups and Vasquez Peak
There are a plethora of very cool Alpine Buttercups in the meadows of the high alpine Rockies of Colorado. Their yellow petals liven up the slopes of the mountains in the Vasquez Peak Wilderness. How can any person not smile while walking through a meadow buttercup flowers?
Teig Among the Yellow Alpine Flowers
Teig figuring out the way to Rosalie Peak in the Mount Evans Wilderness. He not only a tracker of squirrels but also a pretty good trailblazer. He can follow almost any trail and still look cool in an alpine meadow of yellow flowers. We love hiking above treeline in the Front Range Rockies of Colorado.
2-Bar Ranch Corral
We had an enjoyable exploration through a ghost ranch in Northwest Colorado. I came across a story on the web by Jerry Spangler published in June of 1991 about this ranch that I am going to provide below that you might find interesting:
Everyone loves the courageous soul who, against all odds, stands up to an overwhelming opponent. And legends are made when the underdog wins.
Maybe that's why everyone in Brown's Park still loves Ann Bassett, a fiery young woman who spearheaded the turn-of-the-century resistance against Ora Haley, a wealthy and politically powerful cattle baron who used ruthless means to snuff out smaller cattle operations in northeastern Utah and northwestern Colorado.In the stuff of television Westerns, Bassett fought back. And won, earning herself the name "Queen of the Cattle Rustlers" in the process. She also carved herself a niche in Utah and Colorado history as one of the most colorful characters of the Wild West.
Born in 1874 (the first white child born in Brown's Park, Daggett County), Bassett was a willful character, a lifelong resident of the grassy paradise nestled in northeastern Utah and northwestern Colorado.
Brown's Park was home to Bassett, and she defended it with a passion bordering on obsessive. As American cattle operations reached monolithic proportions in the 1890s and early 1900s, smaller ranchers from Montana to Texas were intimidated into selling out.
But Bassett and other ranchers in Brown's Park refused to sell. And when Two-Bar Ranch cattle owned by cattle baron and millionaire Ora Haley pushed at the borders of Brown's Park, the more Bassett's herd and other local herds grew and prospered (albeit, some say, with altered brands).
To residents of Brown's Park, the appropriation of Ora Haley's livestock was not only a matter of survival, it was justified under the code of the Old West. Haley's cows were trespassing, leaving nothing but grass stubble in their wake.
Haley coveted the lush winter ranges in Brown's Park, and he apparently was willing to employ any and all measures to acquire them.
A push and shove relationship developed over the years, with the Two-Bar Ranch doing most of the pushing and shoving. An attempt to counter the threats of the Two-Bar Ranch resulted in the creation of the Brown's Park Cattlemen's Association.
Retaliatory actions by the Two-Bar Ranch in 1900 claimed the lives of two Brown's Park ranchers - some believe the victims of hired gun Tom Horn.
The violence disintegrated the Brown's Park Cattlemen's Association, and ranchers made no attempt to stop the encroachment of Two-Bar cattle. But spurred more by vengeance than common sense, Bassett single-handedly rode the boundary line between the Two-Bar operation and the Brown's Park ranches.
She had a reputation for chasing trespassing cattle until they died of exhaustion, or herding them into the Green River where they would drown. Sometimes she just shot them outright.
Gunmen hired by the Two-Bar Ranch tried to kill her but failed. It was a classic case of the little guy fighting the big guy.
The feud continued year after year with charges and counter charges. In August 1913, Bassett went on trial in Craig, Colo., for rustling Two-Bar beef. As Diana Allen Kouris describes in her book "The Romantic and Notorious History of Brown's Park".
"The town of Craig was overflowing with spectators. Most of them supported the lovely cowgirl who had taken on the rich and powerful Ora Haley. The courtroom was packed with onlookers when Ann's lawyer smoothly turned things against Ora Haley. On the stand he duped Haley into admitting that he had almost double the amount of cattle on the range than were registered with The county assessor. After eight hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. Whoops, cheers and applause roared from within the courtroom. `Hurray for victory' flashed across the Craig movie screen. Guns were fired into the air, and a brass band paraded down the street. The large crowd lit several bonfires and danced on Main Street with Ann all night."
A Denver newspaper reporter dubbed Bassett the "Queen of the Cattle Rustlers," a colorful and appropriate title by Brown's Park standards. From the moment of her acquittal, she was known as "Queen Ann."
Soon after the trial, Ora Haley ceased his cattle operations in Brown's Park. Bassett and her father even lived awhile at a Two-Bar Ranch headquarters on the Green River.
When new rumors arose that Bassett had taken up cattle rusTling, nobody in the area really cared. She had single-handedly taken on the cattle barons and won - and that warranted loyalty.
Ann Bassett suffered a heart attack in Leeds, Washington County, in 1953. She never recovered.
Resting by Lost Creek
Teig resting by Lost Creek on our hike into the Colorado’s Lost Creek Wilderness on Wigwam Trail. This wilderness is a fantastic area to explore and is relatively quiet compared to the other Front Range mountain areas near Denver. Lost Creek is also great to cool off in on warm summer days on the trail.
Looking Over the Front Range from Chief Mountain
What do you do when you have summited Chief Mountain above Squaw Pass in Colorado? You look out and over the surrounding Front Range hills and valleys and take in the rugged beauty of Colorado.
Traildog Exploring Sand Wash Basin
Sand Wash Basin is located 45 miles west of Craig, Colorado. A herd of approximately 450 wild horses freely roam this area and are protected by the BLM. Teig was up on a point, as night approached, searching the horizon for them as a western storm was coming towards us. A quick retreat to our camp was in short order.
Traildog's Winter Fantasy
A saunter to the top of Mount Falcon with a heavy spring snow is exactly what Teig dreams about…. Luckily we got a great big snow in Colorado!
Black-capped Chickadee and Snowflakes
This Chickadee was braving the snowflakes during a snowstorm at RedRocks Park outside of Morrison Colorado. FYI: The song of the Black-capped Chickadee is one of the most complex vocalizations of all animals, acting as a contact call, an alarm call, to identify an individual, or to indicate recognition of a particular flock
Freight Train at Coal Creek
North of Golden Colorado the coal and freight trains travel at the base of the Front Range mountains on the expedition to deliver their goods. This is one of my favorite short hikes near Coal Creek to saunter out to the mesa and watch these behemoths switch tracks, by-pass each other and slowly make their way to their destinations with Denver in the background. Who doesn’t love to watch the long trains chug along?