Sharing our "good spots" with Dehui... and a few Mountain Maggots

We've spent a couple of glorious days hiking above timberline with Dehui Yang. My concern that wildflower season might have evaporated before his arrival proved misspent.

BCB's Revolving Door

Son Caleb and fiancee Keli showed up about midnight Friday night. First thing Saturday morning they are ready for a hike with a "payoff." I chose to summit Red Mountain 3, that little orange nub beyond the meadow of wildflowers in the above photo, and damn near 13,000 feet. Jackpot!

Precious Gems of Turquoise and Sapphire

Above the stifling morass of a dreary, bug-infested forest, in the cool, uncluttered, wild-flowered atmosphere of Heaven on earth, lies not one, but two, alpine pool gems. One is sapphire, hemmed by a fiery crown of ragged ridge-line, the other turquoise, cupped in the bosom of a glacial cirque. So beautiful are they that neither Frost nor Yeats could ne'er pay them their due in verse. At least, I will fail in good company.

An Imperfect Storm

In the throws of wildflower season, wading waist-deep through blossoms of shimmering purple Delphiniums, shin-deep through rainbows of neon Paintbrush, over and around incessant mounds of startling Blue Columbine, Bobbie and I are aghast at this year's apparent Super-bloom.

A Fun Adult Toy... and it's Deductible!

Last night we hosted a convergence of nomadic types at the Mine Shack. Some brought beer and goodies, others wine and goodies, the hosts, pizza, and one guy brought his new toy... a sophisticated drone, with surveillance cameras and GPS guidance software. Oh boy!

Life is a Verb

Shakespeare advised that brevity is the soul of wit. I would take it a few steps further and add that it is also the soul of all things short-lived and precious. Scarcity creates value, be it diamonds, gold, real estate, or wildflowers.

Neither Rain nor Snow nor Darkness of Clouds

It's one thing to be "caught out" above timberline, surprised by an un-forecasted thunderstorm and lightning after being assured by the weather-guessers that it would be a "fair day" in the mountains.  But it's another thing altogether to go "up there" after being forewarned that it would be best to stay home and live to hike another day.  These mountains of ours tend to make a mockery out of meteorologists' computer models. The San Juans are as unpredictable as Donald Trump's mouth, both of which tend to make fools out of anyone who tries to put them in a "box." But we went anyway, and took John Q. and Joalenn with us. I'm sure John was recalling one time a couple of years ago when he, Bobbie, and I had to run for our lives down the Bridge of Heaven Trail.