"The central cores of most Colorado ranges are composed of hard Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rock - granite, gneiss, and schist. Pleistocene glaciers carved horseshoe-shaped cirques and deep canyons visible here. South Park [is] a broad high-altitude intermontane valley."
I received a card in the mail from my friend Catherine, a woman whose biggest heroes are poets and naturalist, farmer and aspiring backcountry rescuer (rescuing injured/stranded/missing people who have hiked into wilderness. I have hung out with Catherine in Vermont, Ithaca and Colorado. Our last encounter was in Alma, CO - a small historic mining town in the high Rockies that vies with one other locale to be known as the highest (altitude, not substances) inhabited place in the U.S. - over Thanksgiving. Since that visit my footloose friend has spent time back in Vermont, then Central NY (Finger Lakes farming), and is back here for several weeks. Our trip to visit her - a day trip.
(Please forgive the lousy formatting. Some text refused to left justify.)
Steve matching nicely with painted cactae in Morrison, CO
Me in Morrison, CO - check out the jagged ridgeline in the background
South Park - geological feature extraordinnaire - flat in the midst of mountains
Cattle ranching in South Park
Fairplay, CO - Steve walking toward the Brown Burro where we ate a decent lunch
South Park City (a replica of the ghost town) Can you picture Cartman and Kenny trying to get to the bottoom of the disappearance of their socks in this setting? Or Tweak's family's coffee shop vying with the new Starbucks in town?
Alma, CO - Catherine's brother owns the business in the background, Alma's Only Bar
Catherine in a hut that we found near resevoir, jeep trails, and old mining operation
Catherine and me near the old mining operation
The ride home near the Eisenhower Tunnel and the Great Divide - See the moon?
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