Sun 23 Jul 2006
Mt. Sopris, Colorado
Posted by mitams under Travels
Spouse and I went to Redstone, Colorado to celebrate our 5th anniversary. We stayed at this family-oriented, pet-friendly place called Avalanche Ranch located on Highway 133 across from the Crystal River. The photo above was our front porch view for the 3 days we were there. The mountain is named Mt. Sopris.
This was taken in the afternoon when the setting sun from the west just touched the side of the mountain.? It’s said this mountain is an extinct volcano. If you look closely at the photo, you will see that bald portion below the peak exposing the red sandstone. That does look like a side crater or then again, it could be just a cirque formed by galcial erosion. It does make you wonder how all these mountains, canyons and rivers came to be.
At the bottom of the photo, you’ll find lush trees that sat by the side of the Crystal River. The highway separates the ranch from the river. But even in the summertime, there was hardly any traffic on the road. The river sounded like a city highway though….in a gentler, milder sense. It was somehow reassuring to hear that water constantly rushing north toward the Roaring Forks River.
In the afternoons and early evenings, we heard honking geese that flew over the river. I spotted a few black and white geese just honking away while flying back and forth over the river. The hummingbirds made their share of pleasant noise too. Every cabin in the ranch had a hummingbird feeder by the front porch. Those birds came to feed constantly throughout the day…sometimes they got too friendly and buzzed by you and took you by surprise enough to make you squeal.
We loved our stay in this beautiful part of Colorado. it’s probably the most beautiful part of this state. It was truly surprising in its beauty and serenity. You don’t have the jaded crowds of Aspen nor the traffic. Everyone, everywhere you went was just so nice. I believe the locals genuinely like summer tourists…so long as they leave them in peace the rest of the year.
There’s also so much to do and see you’ll probably wish you could stay longer…just as Spouse and I did.
I’ll write more about this wonderful place and post more photos in the coming days.
