A Summer Getaway

tanjabrittonwriter 56 Comments

In response to a string of sizzling summer days, my husband and I escaped Colorado’s Front Range for the mountains not long ago. We were happily reminded of the difference a distance of some 60 miles (100 km), plus an elevation gain of 2,500 feet (about 750 meters) can make. Instead of daily highs in the mid-90s (35⁰ C) in El Paso County, the thermometer in Park County didn’t climb above 85⁰ F (about 30⁰ C), and a thunderstorm during our second night that traveled right above us and dumped barrels of rain on our new tent (which passed its baptism with flying colors, even though its sky-blue fabric was temporarily darkened by mud), cooled the atmosphere even more, into the mid-70s (about 24⁰ C).

Intending to return to Spruce Grove, a Forest Service Campground well known to us from previous visits (though the last lay two years in the past), we were flabbergasted to see that all its 27 sites, save one, were either occupied or reserved for the entire week. This lone spot, which would have accommodated us for two nights, was exposed and surrounded by other campers and we didn’t even stop to look at it more closely, continuing on our way instead.

We knew of another, nearby campground, and had often talked about wanting to try it out. Now the opportunity presented itself. When we arrived at Twin Eagles campground in the late morning, only one of nine campsites was taken, and we were surprised to see its occupants depart a few hours later. For most of the afternoon it appeared as though we might have the place to ourselves, until one car revealed a father-son team who also decided to spend the night. As they picked a walk-in tent site next to Tarryall Creek, which runs through the campground, we neither saw nor heard them, so we continued to relish the sense of escape and privacy afforded us. While those creekside sites appealed to us as well, we chose a different one because of the swarms of mosquitoes that greeted us next to the stream, and even at a distance they had no trouble finding and pestering us, as did various biting flies.

To enlarge a photo, click on it. To read its caption, hover cursor over it.

Twiin Eagles Campground
Do you see the Twin Eagles?
Our campsite
Tarryall Creek

As far back as I can remember, I have enjoyed playing and sleeping in tents. To rise and retire with the sun and be constantly immersed in nature’s soundscape brings out my happier self. Howling coyotes in the night is part of the camping appeal and we were granted a concert not once, but twice. Hearing the chirping, tweeting, muttering, and singing of birds from before the morning’s first conscious thought until the moment the mind drifts off into the twilight in the evening is my idea of paradise, and I wasn’t disappointed on that count either.

July is a wonderful month to observe juvenile birds who were everywhere in evidence. Not surprisingly, in this less crowded, less busy campground, more avian families made their homes than in the busier one, and if I had needed another reminder to be grateful that our original plan hadn’t worked out, this would have been it. Young nuthatches, sparrows, warblers, tanagers, and bluebirds were trying out their newly operational wings and continued to try out their already-in-great-shape begging voices, imploring their long-suffering parents to “please, catch another insect,” and to “please, drop it right into my hungry mouth.”

Clark’s Nutcrackker
Adult male Western Tanager carrying a grasshopper in his beak to feed to his offspring
Juvenile Western Bluebird with spots
Juvenile Western Bluebird (the yellow gape is still visible, but it no longer has spots)

For many people, rodents have a questionable reputation at best, but I think few would argue that they are attractive animals. Seeing chipmunks, ground, and tree squirrels regularly during our stay never grew old.

Pine Squirrel
Chipmunk
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

In addition to the bounty of beauteous baby birds and likeable rodents, July displayed carpets of wildflowers, having benefited from our copious rains of May and June as well as regular July showers. During a hike that took us from our campground at 8,500 feet (2,500 meters) to Lizard Rock, a well-known rock formation at about 9,500 feet (2,900 meters) directly at the verge of the Lost Creek Wilderness, our path meandered through a mixed forest of pines and aspens and was fringed with wildflowers and wild grasses.

I have always wanted to be taller, but during this outing, when I kept dropping to my knees to pay homage to, and take photos of, the colorful array of the exquisite flora, I wished for the ability to put on a minimizer cap to shorten myself (at least temporarily) to a height of about one foot, to better see and smell the remarkable variety of blooms adorning the forest floor. From bells to funnels, straight rays to intricate racemes; from demurely cream-colored to loud vermilion, the myriad blossoms dazzled not only us human admirers, but also countless flies and bees and butterflies.

Hiking trail through a pine-aspen forest…
…lined with wildflowers
Grass stems and tree trunks
Mariposa Lily, Nodding Onion, and grass
Wild strawberry
July 26, 2023: Yellow Stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum)
July 26, 2023: Harebell aka Bluebell (Campanula rotundifolia)
July 26, 2023: Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium)

I couldn’t help but think about how all these organisms—the trees, the grasses, the flowers, the insects—were doing the work of the world quietly and mostly out of sight. My heart was overflowing with gratitude for their quiet work: building and holding the soil in place, transforming our waste products into vital air and delectable food with the help of tireless pollinators, and doing all this, and more, while radiating beauty through their mere existence. Who else can lay claim to such marvelous accomplishments?

56 thoughts on “A Summer Getaway”

  5. Dazzling country, Tanja and wonderful wildlife photographs as always. 30 degrees would still be something to write home about, here, especially at 2500 ft. I’ve not camped for a long time, but I’m starting to wonder about it. All the best.

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    • Thank you, Michael. Being able to escape a busy city by not having to go very far is one of the enticements of living here.
      If you get back to camping, I hope you will enjoy it. It’s one of my absolute favorite things to do.

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  6. What a great way to get away from it all by being right in the middle of it all. I mean, all of the important stuff. I’ll have to let my daughter know to try your “secret” camping location.

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    • Thank you, Brad. You have been to Colorado and know how it’s still possible to experience some degree of wilderness not too far from our major cities.
      If your daughter visits this area, I hope she will also have a lovely experience.

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  9. Camping can be such a wonderful way to immerse ourselves in the natural world while offering a change of pace to the hustle and bustle of our daily lives.

    Your fabulous photographs could entice anyone to visit the mountains to see what diverse beauty exists there. All of that and cooler temperatures, too.

    I’ve only seen Clarks’s Nutcracker and Western Tanager once, so that’s enough to motivate me pack up and go.

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    • Thank you, Wally. Your first sentences expresses succinctly what took me 909 words to say. 😊
      Both the nutcrackers and the tanagers were vocal throughout most of the day and we watched a number of juvenile tanagers being fed by their parents. If you decide to escape Florida’s heat and humidity and come to Colorado, please let me know.

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  11. Wow, looks like a stunning getaway! I love your ‘doing the work of the world quietly and mostly out of sight’–it’s so true and thank goodness for a healthy, diverse ecosystem. Would that there was more of that. Beautiful photos!

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    • Thank you, Tina, it was a lovely place to experience for a few (too) short days. I also wish that we would leave more ecosystems alone to allow them to do the vital work that enables all of us to live.

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  12. A lovely post, Tanja. I must say I admire your outdoors-y toughness! I’m not sure I would be up to the rigors of tent camping, softie that I am.
    Wonderful flora and fauna! Many that I was totally unfamiliar with.

    This is probably a silly question, but what about other “critters”? Are bears a worry? (Wondering because one came up on our front porch this Spring.) Moose? Raccoons? And are there ticks out West? Around here, I don’t go into the woods without my lightweight velcro tick gators….

    Glad you had a wonderful time. In most parts of the country, we have certainly needed a bit of weather relief!
    Cheers.
    Julie

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    • Thank you for your comment and questions, Julie. Car camping really isn’t so tough as we stay in one place and have a camp stove, water, and food aplenty. Backpacking is a little more bare, and we enjoy that, too, but haven’t done it for a number of years.
      As far as critters, there are bears and mountain lions, but it’s rare to see them, especially the latter. Bears will sometimes come to campgrounds because of the availability of food, so it’s important to lock it in the car or hang it between trees where bears can’t reach it. Some areas have ticks, but they aren’t as common as in the East and don’t carry as many diseases.
      I love sleeping in a tent as it makes me feel closer to nature and her rhythms, and I regret that we don’t get to camp more often. Maybe you could would enjoy staying in a yurt, which is a little bit like tenting, but feels a little less exposed.
      Take care,
      Tanja

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  15. That sounds like a wonderful getaway, Tanja. Nature offers us so much and asks very little in return. It’s the driving force that gives us a home, provides food, and gives us a reason to rise up every morning to enjoy another day. As a bird lover I am sure those delightful sounds you wrote of made your heart sing.
    I have found a way to shrink to that foot tall person you were wishing to be. I lie on my side. 🙂

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  19. I was going to say I’d never been camping, but then something occurred to me: there are a lot of similarities between this getaway of yours, and sailboat cruising. Whether coastal cruising or making longer offshore passages, everything is shaped by nature: weather, wind, water. There’s nothing more lovely than sleeping in a cockpit, or standing a nightwatch under a full moon. Poking around a coastline, finding an isolated anchorage, watching the sun set or rise, hearing the slap of water on the hull — there’s nothing I love more. I don’t sail offshore any more, for a variety of reasons including the fact that it’s darned hard work, and I’m getting up there in years. Still, when I want to be happy, I head to the water.

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  21. Tanja – Thank you so much for sharing your getaway. I just love your photos. I know, I say it every time. But it is true. You have a good eye for composition when capturing plants, landscapes and animals.
    I also wanted to say how much I enjoyed your posts about murals. I really enjoy seeing murals and hearing about what is important to a community.
    Hope your summer is going well. Take care dear friend. -Jill

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    • Thank you so much, Jill, I especially appreciate this comment because you are a visual artist. 🙂
      And I’m glad you enjoyed the murals, too. I love seeing them whenever I’m downtown. They add such character to what would otherwise be bare, gray walls.
      Many kind regards,
      Tanja

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  22. We definitely enjoy camping and soaking in nature, although we have since traded in the tent for a Class-B after a rather horrendous night camping in Minnesota up by Ely (we are members of the International Wolf Org up there). We eventually had to tie a rope to our leg and then attach it to a stake in the ground just to keep from being hauled off by the blood sucking pterodactyls up there. Sounds like your misfortunes at the original destination turned out well for you. Jealous of your Nutcracker and that Western Tanager (only seen one of the later in my life and that was in Tahoe). Oh, and I kind of like those cute rodents…as long as they are in SOMEONE ELSE’S woods hehehe.

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    • Blood-sucking pterodactyls do not sound inviting. We have been thinking and talking about a camper van, but that’s where things are stuck. A camper would definitely be preferable to a tent in Texas in January, if we ever end up making that trip!
      The cute little rodents tend to be more of an issue for backpackers, as they are known to gnaw through backpacks in order to get food, but they weren’t troubling us.
      The nutcrackers were very vocal and the tanagers were active catching insects for their offspring. I’m sure you would have had a great time, too.

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  23. Schöne Bilder, schöne Begegnungen mit dem Wildlife! Und wie hier schon erwähnt wurde, wunderbar von dir in Worte gefaßt! Ja, wir können dankbar und demütig sein für die Existenz dieser wunderschönen kleinen und großen Lebewesen, die unser Leben so bereichern und die den “Laden” am Laufen halten 🙂

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    • Liebe Almuth,
      vielen Dank für Deinen Besuch und Kommentar. Ich bin immer wieder dankbar, daß wir trotz aller Probleme und Sorgen noch solche wunderbaren Erlebnisse haben können.
      Hoffentlich hören sie nie auf!
      Sei herzlich gegrüßt,
      Tanja

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