Falcon Flight Path: A Grand Time in Grand Lake

We pulled into our destination, Winding River Resort, a couple of miles outside Grand Lake, Colorado, by mid-afternoon on Sunday, July 29. This resort is a great venue for families. In fact, you should probably not be here unless you have several kids, dogs or horses, or maybe all three. Winding River is spread out over a number of acres, and many of its RV and tent camping sites are separated by lush vegetation. There are 20-30 sites that have horse corrals,

and there is an arena for riding or working your horse. Trail rides, hayrides, ATV rentals and a number of sports activities are also available. We were also excited to find that Winding River backs up to Arapaho National Forest, and miles of trails are available…and dogs can be off-leash on all of them.

We’ve been busy since getting here, but you didn't get an update because of our location. The biggest downside to this park is the lack of internet access, and in our case AT&T cell phone service. We can receive phone calls most of the time, but the service is so spotty that, while we can hear the calling party, they often can’t hear us. Internet is mostly unavailable except in the late night and early morning hours.

The park is a labyrinth of roads leading to the various camping sites, and makes for a good place for us and the dogs to get in 4 miles or so each day going to and from site #13. We have met a couple of other border collies and their owners, as well as some horse people. We were also excited to meet another couple who pull their Momentum fifth wheel with a big Volvo semi. (They were also popular with our dogs, as you can see.)

Reed and Erin invited us over to swap stories and enjoy Erin's excellent jalapeño margaritas. The margaritas were good and the company even better. We hope Reed and Erin will be able to join us in Hutchinson, KS, in October for the HDT National Rally.

In addition to our fellow campers and their horses, dogs and kids, we have made the acquaintance of the beautiful draft horses that pull the hayride wagon. Barney and Bob are two handsome Percherons. They are full brothers, 12 and 13 years old.

We visited them in their pasture, where one of them (Bob or Barney, it's hard to tell the difference) was happy to get pats and scratches.

He even acknowledged the Bagley Pack members, and I was happy that they were also congenial.

There is also a matched pair of Belgians, but I haven’t seen them working.

The two stocky, short-legged girls are Norwegian Fjords. I had never seen this breed, but they were friendly and happy to socialize.

On Tuesday we had a great visit with my cousins, Frances and Roy Marvin. Frances and Roy live on the eastern edge of Rocky Mountain National Park over the mountain in Estes Park, Colorado. They took Trail Ridge Road through the park and joined us for lunch at Grand Lake Lodge. Afterward we took a walk around the village of Grand Lake and caught up on each others’ news. We haven't had a chance to be together for several years, so it was good to see them again.

On Wednesday, we took the dogs for a hike up View Point Trail into the national forest. It’s a steep climb, but with fantastic views of the valley where we camp as well as the surrounding mountains.

It’s supposedly only .8 miles to the top, but I think that must be an as-the-crow-flies calculation.

We enjoyed the trailside flowers, especially since it gave us a good excuse to stop and catch our breath.

This curious woodpecker (I think it's a downy woodpecker) watched our progress.

It took us a couple of hours up and back, but then we took several breaks to check the altitude, and to rest before starting back down.

Thursday we took our own trip up Trail Ridge Road to the RMNP Alpine Visitors’ Center. The Center is only open some 5 months of the year due to the heavy snowfall in the area. Trail Ridge Road is closed half of the year, and the area experiences not only frigid temperatures, but 150-mph winds. We assume that the heavy timbers topping the visitors’ center are needed because of the winds.

Remembering our last visit to the Alpine Visitor Center with Frances and Roy several years ago, we went into the cafe and ordered chili. Just as we were served, the cafe experienced a power failure and they shooed all of us outside. We had another opportunity to have our lunch with a fantastic view.

The drive from the western entrance to the park isn’t as long as from Estes Park, but the views are beautiful and we enjoyed our day.

We kept looking for big game, but on this trip only got a glimpse of a couple of elk.

Fortunately, a day or two earlier we saw this lovely mama moose and a young male near the visitors’ center. The cow elk was one of 6 collared last year to help keep track of the population, which one of the rangers estimated as perhaps 60 animals.

And speaking of wildlife, we have enjoyed the company of hummingbirds here as well as at the NRA Whittington Center. This time, we put out a hummingbird feeder in hopes of attracting swarms of the colorful birds. We were successful, but only to a point. Our feeder was visited briefly by a couple of ruby-throated males, but it was quickly claimed by this very assertive female.

Her favorite perch was in a nearby pine tree, from where she kept a close eye on "her" feeder.

Every time another hummingbird had the temerity to approach, she dive-bombed the interloper with angry chirps and a loud buzzing of tiny wings. They didn't stick around, and she quickly stopped for a snack before returning to her perch, very pleased with herself it seems.

We felt guilty about leaving and were reluctant to take down "her" feeder until the last minute, so we left it in place while we hooked up on Monday. You guessed it...it's still there. I hope whoever took Space #13 will fill it for her.

On Sunday before we left, we had a special treat. We usually "go to church" at our home church, First Lakeview Church near Volente. While we are on the road, our pastor sends us a video of each Sunday's message, which we play on the TV in our RV. Lack of bandwidth prevented us from doing so on Sunday, so we instead attended "Cowboy Church" at the RV park. What an uplifting experience it was. Musical accompaniment was provided by a couple of fellow campers with a guitar and a mountain dulcimer.

The message was brought by Bill, accompanied by his in-real-life cow horse, Cloud.

You might look at it this way: horse training, dog training and people training are all similar. Bill used Cloud as an example of how, as his horse trusts Bill, we must trust our Lord. Likewise, as the horse obeys his rider's direction, we should obey our Heavenly Master. Both have our best interests at heart and wish only the best for us. Discipline is necessary on the part of Bill and God, and trust and obedience are required on the part of Cloud and God's children. Now if we could just execute as well as Cloud, the Lord would be pleased.

We enjoyed sharing Sunday worship with Bill, his wife, Cloud and our fellow RVers It was a great way to end our stay here at Winding River.

There was, however, one more treat in store for us on August 5. Rue celebrated her sixth birthday. We had planned to go to downtown Grand Lake to mark the occasion with "pup cups" from the local ice cream and chocolate shop. Unfortunately, as we were standing in line to order, there was a huge clap of thunder, accompanied by a couple of lightening bolts. Colt didn't seem to mind, but Kota and Rue hit the end of their leashes, determined to get as far away as they could as soon as possible.

We made a mad dash across the street and piled into the car just as huge raindrops, mixed with dime-sized hail, began to pelt down. We pulled into the nearby Dairy King (with an awning!) and John quickly procured soft-serves in a cup. Back in camp, the rain had stopped and Colt and Kota enjoyed sharing Rue's birthday treat.