C. Lake and M. Basin & another impromptu hike

Looks like my ride is ready for me at C. Lake (I wish!)...

Or I could've scooted around the lake like these folks (had I brought a board and paddle).

A gorgeous day.  Sky, a huge blue with bits and pieces of pretty, puffy clouds.

Almost to the end of my road (and the beginning of my walk) and looking back.  This view will look a lot different in a few hours...

 I drove as far as looked do-able in our truck (stopped short of the giant boulders in the road...!) and then walked the rest of it, taking off cross-country when the tracks stopped.  Having scoped out the landscape, I had a general notion of where I was going...

Here and there I found some pretty little flowers, like these (globeflowers)...

 and these (sneezeweed?)...

 and these (CO state flower, blue columbine!)...

 and these (??  OK, once again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder - this guy/gal's pretty too!)...

 and these (arnica?)...

 and these (columbine again)...

 and these (sedum/Queen's Crown)...

 and these (purple asters)...

 and these (elephant flowers)...

  

 and these (angelica? and mertensia/bluebells)...

 Hmmm, weather's changing - never static here!  And some rocky walking to get up the hill! 

 Lovely slopes.

And lovely lighting.

Remember those puffy little clouds in that previous picture?  Well, they're sort of amassing now!

 Looking back at my way up (black line).

 Cute little bee gathering nectar/making pollen transfers.

 Pretty paintbrush patch.

Back to the road, and kind of in a hurry still - because those clouds have been darkening and moving ever closer...

Storm closing in (nice to be back in the car now).  But boy does it make it beautiful!

And dramatic!

 Having driven down a ways, I had to stop and look back to see where I'd been.  I drew in my hike, more or less.  I did come across a trail mid-way (!), but most of it was just x-country (no issues with getting lost when you're above timberline like that!)

 Driving down into the rain.

 Skinny little wet-bark aspens.

And just a little side note:  I made it back down the entire length of dirt road (4WD sections and all), no problem.  But shortly after getting back on the paved road, I got a flat!  Fortunately, I had cell signal and was able to call Billy, who rode the motorcycle out (glad the rain had ended by then!) and helped me finish changing out the tire (I was about halfway through and could've actually finished on my own - but it did help having him yank off those tough old lugnuts!!).

S.E. for 4th of July

Because of the fire danger, many Colorado communities were banned from doing fireworks displays.  They were still doing pancake breakfast-type things, but we decided on other plans for the day.  We visited a well-known ghost town in the area, which I will call S.E. (don't want to make this mystery too easy to solve!).

(seems like something's missing here - where's Tractor?!  He got to go to the last ghost town!  Seems like he should be by Bill's side, helping with the window-peeking!)

(OK, is there someone looking out of that upper window??)

OK...now to the Chipmunk Channel...!  These little guys were enjoying lots of sunflower seed hand-outs (sold at the little store specifically for this purpose!  So much for "don't feed the wildlife").

 They are awfully cute, aren't they?! 

BW trail

 I found this nice little local trail system in between town and that dirt road I was on in the last post.  I took one of the short paths, which led me to a nice viewpoint, where I could take photographic advantage of the lovely day, complete with little baby cloudlettes.  Back and center is Mt. P again.

The town. 

And once again, the river.

Impromptu mini-hike among the boulders

 On July 2nd, I went out and explored one of the back roads, messed around on a sort-of trail/dirt wash, and climbed up one of the many neato rocky hills in the area.

 Made it to the top of my selected "peak."  Time for the photo of me at the height of my success - oh wait, there's no one else around.  Oh well, here's looking at me, kid!  ;)

 Cool series of tunnels on this dirt road.

More wonderful Colorado storms!

 Great places for rock climbing.

And for me, this is a quintessential Colorado country photo - an irrigation ditch!  I grew up spending time in the summers at my grandparents' CO home, and one of my many favorite pastimes was messing around in these ditches with their dogs on those hot sunny days!!