Mule Deer - Red Feather Memories

After the chipmunk, the most common animal I would see on the way to and from Red Feather Lakes Colorado was the Mule Deer.  I was fascinated with them and would always scan for them along the dirt roads, the hill sides and in the meadows.  I even remember faking sleeping in the backseat of the car on a drive back down to Denver.  My parents weren't sure if I was asleep, so my Mom called out she had seen a deer.  Busted, I bolted upright and started looking for the deer.

Red Feather Memories - The little Stuff

Some of the small things I remember from my childhood going to and from Red Feather Lakes, Colorado are some of my first animals and my first flowers.  The chipmunks use to run across the road and also would beg for food or nuts at rest stops on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park and sometimes when we were fishing.  The Indian Paintbrush was my first wildflower, I remember my Grandmother, Joan Jenkins and I admiring the beautiful red flowers and her wondering what type of flower it was.  We found out later when we went to the town store and they had postcards and notecards with the Indian Paintbrush flowers proudly displayed.  We then knew what the flower was which had peaked our interest and I never forgot it.

Red Feather Memories - The Cabin

The Mummy Range is south of Red Feather Lakes and was part of the last long view you could see before the turn off to our Cabin.  The cabin was a small one room cabin with electricity, a cistern for water, a wood burning stove for heat and cooking, and an outhouse out back.  I use to love climbing on all the rocks outside.  They were large when I was little, now they are barely knee high but, that is the experience of youth and getting older.  Everything shrinks.  My Dad's co-worker, Ruby Weiss told him about the cabin and thats how we became acquainted with Red Feather Lakes.

Red Feather Memories - the Dirt Road express

After turning off the paved road at Livermore, Colorado the drive to Red Feather Lakes gets interesting.  The dirt road always made for an adventure.  The junkyards, oil derricks, animal farms and other signs of civilization dropped away.  The scenery became more and more about nature.  Ranches, farms, and cabins were the only manmade scenes.  The mountains, hills, and ridges get more impressive as the drive progressed.  I always was scanning for wildlife since you never knew when the Mule Deer, Antelope, rabbit or Elk would appear around the corner.  In 1968 my parents purchased a Mercury Cougar and it replaced the Corvair as the vehicle to escape to the mountains into for the next few years.

Red Feather Memories - The Foothills

Continuing on the drive to Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, we would continue north out of Ft. Collins and would thread our way through the foothills.  After Ted's Place we would pass through Owl Canyon which was a small break in the hogbacks which stretch along the front range of the Rockies from Cheyenne to Colorado Springs.  Owl Canyon is special since we same a herd of 20 Mule Deer crossing the road early one morning.  The drive would continue to Livermore where the road would quickly turn to a dirt road.  Now it is paved but not 40 years ago, when I learned a term to describe the dirt rad which was "Washboard" or what it felt you were driving across as your teeth rattled and the car would swish around in the dirt.

Red Feather Memories - Ft Collins and Ted's Place

After leaving Johnson's Corner Truck start we would continue on our way to Red Feather Lakes.  We would continue up I-25 to Ft. Collins, Colorado.  I think we would pass through everything interesting thing, Rail yards, Airports, pig farms, oil derricks, junk yards, and the foothills.  As we left Ft.Collins and drove through the front range Hog Back ridges we would come to a Ted's Place a landmark near the road up to the Cache La Poudre Canyon.  Ted's Place is now torn down but their is a road side park and monument to the place.  I don't remember stopping there, but I must have seen it 25 times if not a hundred.

More Red Feather Memories

We use to drive up to the mountains in a 1964 Chevrolet Corvair.  It was a fun car and I would see a lot of the world from its back seat.  I remember the drive pretty well and it was a rich visual feast.  I could see and check things off as we drove north through Denver on I-25.   It was a voyage of buses, trains, nature, animals, motorcycles, i.e. all the things little boys love.  We would usually stop at Johnson's Corner for gas and fuel for our souls/stomachs.