Connie in Ouray

 Mike and I walked partway up Veenstras' trail this morning, crisp cool air, everything washed off, a fair amount of mud, and ...wildflowers! And then some odd mushrooms or toadstools: And lastly, clouds covering Sneffels as viewed from Ridgway:

 OC Road & Bridge:  "CR361 will reopen for the weekend.  Significant progress was made and it was determined the culvert at Senator Gulch will not suffer a failure.  CR361 will close again on Monday for further repairs.  Closures may happen over the weekend if flooding continues."

 The road is closed at Senator Gulch and will remain closed through the weekend.  That must be one doozy of a mudslide.

We are back from Kansas.  Enough said about that.   While we were gone, it rained...and rained some more.  Marchelle didn't have to water my flowers, and the area is so green!  I did get an alert last night on my phone from OCC Alerts that there was a mudslide up on Camp Bird Road just past Thistledown Campground, and then I got another alert that the road would remain closed today.  

Last night, we had a rather unexpected thunderstorm, and it almost matched the last one I wrote about - wind, rain, thunder, lightning.   The weather app on my phone shows lightning strike distances from Ouray, and it showed one 0.25 miles from Ouray.  We think it hit in the canyon because we saw the flash and heard the thunder almost simultaneously.   Dempsey is not a fan.  And as I right this, 2:00 on Saturday, we're having another.  I love the monsoons! And speaking of Dempsey, on our way down from the overlook on Veenstra's trail, he found himself a doozy of a mud puddle and promptly plopped right into it.  He wasn't as happy with the rinse-off when we got home. Neighbor news, Barb (3) suffered a fall at a waterfall on a hike and found herself at the emegency room to be treated for owies.  She's fine, but then she caught covid and has been quarantining this past week.  It feels like pouring salt in a literal wound. I was counting up families on MFL last night, and I

Just when we thought it was safe to put out the deck chair cushions, boom, rain, lightning, thunder, flash flood warnings, and everything in between. Mike is "gimpy in his back" - a phrase he uses and I've adopted - so we've been taking it easy on trails.  I've been going to the gym to keep up my endurance levels, but today we walked the Mears Trail, which starts on the west side of Crystal Lake and goes south along the lake and then in and out of the forest.   The wildflowers were so gorgeous, yellow, pink, purple, orange, and white.  We stopped at the Full Moon Trail trailhead, which looks interesting but hard, almost 2900 feet elevation gain.  I may put that one off until fall when I'm as fit as I'm going to be. Red Mountains 1 and 2 reflected in Crystal Lake Field of yellow flowers Looking south to Ouray PlantNet says Austrian Leopard's-Bane but maybe Arnica? Mike suggested Mears Trail would be great for snowshoeing in the winter, very little eleva

 It's Tuesday afternoon, and I'm watching the rain come down in sheets.  Even though Mke and I worked outside this morning on accumulating firewood, I'm still feeling a bit boxed in.  It's hard to believe it's already July, and we've not done much porch sitting...too cold or too rainy.  Remind me next month how I was whining here. On Saturday, I finally got to see the dinosaur tracks at the top of the Silvershields Trail.  You might remembr we tried to do it last fall, I think, and when we encountered a big tree that had fallen over the trail, it freaked out Dempsey for some unknown reason.  Mike, Mirabella, and I got over it pretty quickly, but he just couldn't, so we had to come down.  This time, the OTG had taken care of everything on the trail a few months back, and we were able to get to the top.  Oh, my, the tracks are so worth the effort to get up, about 4.5 miles round trip.  There aren't a lot of wildflowers, enough to keep me happy, but the for

Because of all the beneficial rain we've been receiving from the monsoons, the fire restriction has been lifted, and fireworks are planned for the 4th.  Historically, the Veenstras have opened up the gate and allowed vehicles up the trail to the end of the road and then hiking the rest of the way to the overlook.  If you're interested in doing that, you should contact Becky and Mark, who are here on MFL now. Even when I lived in Colorado Springs, and especially now here in Ouray, I always felt bad for tourists who had planned vacations and it rained.  Of course, the flip side is that when it rains, it's cool!  I know my sibs, who all live in hot places, would appreciate a respite. The rain stopped last night just in time for the Mountain Air Music Series last night.  It was a beautiful but cool night.  In the category of "fool me once," Mike and I wore lots of layers last night, plus gloves, in order to stay warm.  Last week, we got cold, and we didn't want to