Striking Gold – A Photo Essay

We left late on Sunday afternoon for a hike in the mountains. We drove on Canyon Road which snaked from Boulder up through the foothills to  Nederland and then past the entrance to Eldora Ski Resort.  I had never hiked in this area.

Gathering clouds threatened rain, but that didn’t stop our merry crew.

After bumping along the dirt road through the tiny mountain town of Eldora (which I didn’t know existed), we finally arrived at our destination.

Our first encounter was with a couple of serious hikers with a not-so-serious-looking dog. Check out her shoes. They were fancier than mine!

Roxy was so jealous!

We struck Colorado gold along the way.

Chills ran down my spine not only from the drop in temperature as we gained altitude, but from a short story I wrote over a year ago. I had created the setting without knowing a location like it existed near Boulder. I experienced deja-vu while we hiked. Everything I had imagined in my fiction appeared around us.

The story begins when a young woman drives into the foothills to clear her head. She camps out for the night…..ALONE……I know! I love setting up my unsuspecting protagonists. I will post the short story on Friday.

The trail meandered along a river.

After hiking for an hour and a half, we arrived at Lost Lake.

We would like to hike it again sometime and camp out.

Taking a break.

On our way back down, we happened upon an old hiker standing along the trail. He mumbled something and then trudged behind us. It occurred to me that it was getting late and we had no cell service and there was no one else on the trail and he was kind of creepy and we had no idea what he was carrying in his pack and then he stopped to take a break since he was an older gentleman and we never saw him again.

Roxy is camouflaged by the five pounds of dirt she picked up in her fur.

I think she was disappointed not to catch up with her hiking-dog friend. I bet Roxy would like to find out where she could buy those fancy shoes!

Roxy loves her “ghetto mittens.”

She can’t wait to put them on.

“I wonder if Mom will let me hike in my ghetto mittens next week. I feel a video coming on.”

Where do you like to go to escape?