Life on the mountain

It is now February of 2017 and we are enjoying our first winter on the mountain. This is a very different experience from living in Kansas. First, we are much closer to wildlife and see examples of deer, elk and birds close up and personal. The deer were right outside our door most days until the snow got so deep it started rubbing their belly's when then waded thru it. After that they disappeared down the mountain and now spend much of their time along the river.

The birds however just continue to increase in numbers at the feeder. There are Ravens, Stellars Jays, Red Headed woodpeckers, Yellow Finches, Grouse and Grey Jays in reasonable numbers. The big numbers come as flocks of Brown-capped Rosy Finches covering the deck and feeders and go thru lots of food per visit. These are several hundred birds at a given time. The sound of the flock arriving makes you think a helicopter landed on  the deck.

The snow is always light and powdery and comes in pretty steady amounts. It starts out pretty deep and then compresses to much tighter concentrations. It seems to stick around and stays white which is different from the dirty snow after a few days we have been used to in Kansas.

The powder aspect of snow means it gets blown around pretty well by the wind so drifting is an issue. It is not bad to plow if you get to it before it gets compressed and hard to push.

 It snows pretty regularly which means you have to plan on where to put the plowed snow all winter long. As the snow gets plowed to the sides of the road, the roadway gets narrower. At some point time must be taken to move the snow further to the the side of the road.

The snow really drifts at the entry to the neighborhood. This sign is about 8 feet tall.

 The critters are all along the roads which takes some care in driving in early morn and late evening

Out for a ride. These are a pretty good way to get around up here.

We keep a path clear around the cottage for snowmobile and tractor

Elk along the river - some bedded down and one standing

View on our walk

View across the valley at the Elk Mountains

Snowmobile tracks

Elk in the horse pastures down by the river

Fresh snow

Heading out to cross country ski

Elk along the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River

Lift chairs on Monarch Pass

Underneath all of the snow is the gift shop on Monarch Pass

The flock enjoying food on the deck

Living in the Mountains in Winter

We are spending the winter months in the mountains at 9,240 feet in a secluded part of the state of Colorado. We love it up here in the summer and decided we had better see how year round living suits us.

We made it up here after the first big snow and the neighborhood snow plow had cleared the road to our drive way. We strapped on the snow shoes and made our way to the cottage, started the tractor and used it to blow the drives clear.

There was a lot of snow to clear to get the plow truck ready for use.

During the growing season all of the neighborhood takes the brush and branches they trim and deposit them on the "Slash Pile". On New Years Eve the pile is burned and the various neighbors gather around to celebrate the New Year.

The critters were sure glad to see us return. We've been feeding the birds and we've found they don't like the millet in the feed and  knock it out of the feeder onto the ground below the deck. The deer have discovered the seed and now spend time there eating away.

When we head into town we pass by the lake and the ice fishermen trying their luck.

We've experienced our first big winter storm where it snowed and blew for two days. We got about 16" of snow out of it and higher drifts. After it ended we spent several hours clearing the drives and using the plow truck to clear many miles of roads. Quite the experience.

This secluded life style suits us well. We head into town once a week or so and spend rest of our time on various projects, reading and winter sports.