Sunday, June 9, 2013

Around Towns

With Charlotte in town between field outings, we jumped at the chance to do a little exploring around Fort Collins and Laramie.  Our first outing brought us to Lory State Park, in the foothills of the Rockies, about 15 minutes from our Fort Collins home (elev. ~6,000').


Lory State Park had a bit of a wildfire this spring (unfortunately thanks to a neighbor who tried to design his own electric fence).  While there were still signs of the damage, it was even more amazing to see how quickly the area is recovering and flourishing!


We had a beautiful hike, and even managed to catch a glimpse of some water in the West!


No-like LOTS of water (at least by Western standards).  Lory offers a great view of Horsetooth Reservoir (one of Fort Collins' major drinking water sources), as well as Fort Collins itself in the background.


Anyway, after a great warm day in Colorado, and a bit of work on Friday, we decided to take our first spring/summer 2013 trip to the Snowy Range.  As our more frequent readers will recall, it's located about 45 minutes or so west of Laramie.  After weaving through forests up to about 10,000 or so feet, we stumbled upon quite the scene!


We had planned to take a hike among a few remaining snowbanks, but hadn't quite planned for the 2-3 feet of snow we encountered!  So, we revised our plans and did some exploring by snowshoe (on June 8th!).


All in all, it became a great day trip filled with scenery and snowshoeing.  


After descending back down from our winter wonderland, we stopped in Centennial, WY (pop. 270) to grab a bite to eat.  There, we tested out the delicious "Beartree Tavern," a cafe that's set amidst some very Western scenery!


As you can see, we were (nearly) spoiled rotten by the beautiful scenery, and thrilled by the chance to enjoy both winter and summer in the same day!  Now the party's over, though!  Charlotte heads back into the field tomorrow, and Mike will hit the books.  Have a great week wherever this finds you, and we'll catch you again soon!

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