Colorado Mining Town

The idyllic mountain town of Ophir, Colorado.

  Though most of the high mountain mines in Colorado have shuttered over the years as the silver and gold of the past era have dwindled. A few of the hamlets have made the conversion to mining other lucrative streams of revenue such as Aspen and Telluride with their tourist dollars and high end real estate. There are still those that offer the tiny mountain character that they once were to the hearty individuals that are willing to endure a little isolation. Ophir is one of those remnant townships. Basically over a mountain ridge from the disneyland that Telluride has become. The town is tucked in a valley at a lofty elevation of 9,700 feet with less than seventy residences, a post office and no retail businesses it is a bedroom community to neighboring populations especially located for individuals who are trying to develop high altitude edema. The peaks surrounding the area hold their snow well past the closing of ski areas in the state making it a mecca for late season ski touring. There are no paved roads off the highway so it makes a great destination for those trying to create the roughed up four wheeling visual on their spiffed up SUVs. It takes a hearty soul to live there but the views and access to the mountains is the real payoff.

Prayer flags on a porch hoping for snow.

Kimo learns what the hardy life really is.

Climbing for turns on Magnolia Mountain.

Hot feet do not stay that way long.

Sunsets over the west color the skies in winter.

Snow Bombing

I am not sure what the really name for it is, but Kimo and I call it snow bombing. It comes out of nowhere, scares him to death and gives you an instant brain freeze. It turns out to be another one of those hidden winter time dangers after a really heavy snow fall. You walk along a path and as the sun warms the pine boughs, they drop their loads of snow on unsuspecting victims. After hearing a few go off and having some drop on his head, Kimo decided he did not want to venture away from the road where he could see the clearing.

New Snow

Well, the front range of Colorado got what they call dumped on, with as much as two feet of fresh snow yesterday. I could not get the old Honda out of the Goulet driveway so I had to borrow their Subaru to try and get some fresh tracks. Luckily the main roads were plowed so I could still get to the slopes. Too bad all that snow just came to mess up traffic since up in the mountains where the ski areas are there was only four or five inches. Still a blast to break in the new skis.

Sled Dog Training

Took Kimo the wonder dog out to get in shape for his tryout as a led sled dog today. He had to break a little trail of his own since he can not always follow me. The snow around Nederland, Colorado was a little deeper that lower on the front range. He finished the day with a white beard of his own to match mine.

A Walk in the Woods

I took a nice, long walk along a frozen creek today above Boulder, Colorado with my dog. Gorgeous views and very relaxing getting away from the hustle and bustle, except for the look I kept getting from my Kimo. He would march ahead a little ways and look over his shoulder with one of those impatient little kid looks. As if he was saying "Come on you slowpoke old fool. Can't you keep up". All I could muster was a "Hey, the altitude is getting to me."