A series of First - Fishing Pole and Bulldozer

Rudy Weiss was Dad's boss and lunchtime cribbage partner.  He was the one who let the family now about the cabin being for sale.  Ruby gave me my first real fishing pole and I got to ride on the bulldozer which excavated the basement of his larger cabin.  I was probably about 3-4 years old and I got to ride on a bulldozer.  The vignette above is from the photograph of the occasion.  I was scared to death because it was loud and jerky, it was definitely an experience especially once I was safely off the loud machine.

Fishing Gear

Certain Fishing Gear brings me back to the early days of fishing at Red Feathers.  Wright & McGill fishing poles and hooks, Pulaski's Salomon eggs, metal hook holder, the red hook remover, the standard red and white bobber and split shot are all things which bring me back to those days.  Any time I see them it is an instant transportation back.

View from the cabin

I remember this view from the large picture windows of the cabin at Red Feather Lakes, Colorado.  This is a watercolor of the view, I would like to get this during the golden hour of light which is when the sun is setting.  The colors are always best then.  I can still close my eyes and see that Mule Deer Buck coming over the hill one evening and then crossing the road and angling off to the west.  We use to go on evening walks up to the top of this little hill (though it was not that little when you are five years old).  I use to collect small quartz rocks during these walks.

Dowdy Lake

Most of the lakes at Red Feathers are private.  You must be a landowner and be a member of the association to fish most of the lakes.  Dowdy Lake is the public access lake and it has a camp ground.  It has been one of our go to places since we ended up selling the cabin in 1973.  I have been back to the area multiple times, to include for a search for a lost boy, during my high school days.  Dowdy is a pretty lake with good views of the area and great rocky shorelines and ponderosa pines along the shore.

The day's catch

This is a watercolor of a Brown trout and a Rainbow trout caught in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado.  The Rainbow is my wife's first trout caught a couple of years ago on a trip to see the old stopping grounds.

Snake Lake - Red Feather Lakes Colorado

This is a watercolor of Snake Lake.  It was always the landmark for the end of the drive to the cabin.  I always was confused by this lake's name.  I was really young but my mom saw a snake at West Lake and she is very scared of them so everyone and the fish knew their was a snake there.  I then always associated that lake with snakes and thought it should have been named after them.  We never saw snakes at Snake Lake.

Evenings

Evenings in the Cabin at Red Feather Lakes, where usually pretty quiet for me as I was pretty young.  We would fry up the fish with canned potatoes.  Dad would be drinking Coors, me a bottle or Kool Aid.  I remember my parents playing cribbage as I drifted off to sleep.  The late night run to the outhouse was  always interesting and fragrant.  Mornings would be the lighting of the wood burning stove followed by the eggs, bacon, and OJ.