Wildflower Wonderland!

To the Mountains!! Our favorite place to be...who knew this weekend would be heaven on earth with the magnificent wildflowers. Because of the late snows, the wildflowers were slower to emerge this year and we caught them at their peak and didn't even mean to.


We went camping near Nederland, CO and took the RZR all over the sweet back trails in that area. Its less than an hour from our house, but an area we had never explored before.
Each day we were met with at least two thunderstorms that darkened the sky and poured on us, but the only effect it had on us was making the trails nice and sloshy with mud and causing us to race for cover under the tent a few times!

We were stopped on this trail by a mini-glacier that just might be stubborn enough to remain the whole summer. It was pretty impressive to hike across the snow a ways and realize that the entire valley which should contain the trail is under a couple tons of snow for as far as the eye could see. But...on the bright side, we met some really nice people as we all converged on the same spot only to have to turn around! The second picture here is a "decent sized water crossing" according to the guide book. Uh, the picture in the book would have been a piece of cake! With the runoff this year, it was a raging river!!

On this trail that turned everyone else back due to a mighty snow drift, we made it over the first one spinning our wheels a bit only to find a massive one just a few hundred feet further. The risk with this one was if we slid, it would send us straight against a rock face...so...we stopped and had lunch!! Crossing the first drift again was a bit more interesting. Hit the gas and gun our way back up the slippery slope!








Nothing more exhilarating that seeing this as the enterance to a trail: Deeply rutted trail with high embankments, aspens on both sides scattered with wildflower and only wide enough for us!!!