My Brother-in-Law’s Resting Place…in the Rockies

At Sunset Point Campground, Lake Granby, Colorado

In 2003 I got one of those phone calls that everyone dreads…a member of the family had passed away.  My sister Patti married Terry around 1994, he quickly adopted her daughter Ashley.  Terry had been plagued with Cystic Fibrosis for many years, most of his life.  Around 2001 he had a lung transplant, and all was going well.  One day, either a Thursday or Friday, he was at work at a Counseling Center…within just a couple of days, he died…complications from the transplant a year or two earlier.  No signs before this…it just happened.  We were all devastated.  Stephanie and I drove up to Kansas City area where mom and dad lived, and the four of us drove out to California for the funeral.  Years later, Patti finally made it to Colorado, with daughter Ashley and Terry’s two surviving brothers and other family members of his, to spread his ashes into a pond near a lodge he worked at in Colorado, and to celebrate his life.  Terry’s oldest brother died at age 1 months, Christmas Eve, most likely of Cystic Fibrosis…and he had another brother who died of Cystic Fibrosis about 10 years before Terry did.  What a terrible disease that is…

Meeker Park Lodge is located on highway 7, near the foot of Long’s Peak, the highest point in the Rocky Mountain National Park at 14,259 feet.  The lodge itself has 8 sleeping rooms, a restaurant, a store, and there are also numerous rental cabins on the property.  Also on the property…a large pond…which contains the ashes of many longtime locals, including Terry.  The Dever Family has owned and operated the lodge since 1922.  I stepped into the lodge, made my way to the store, and inquired as to if the young worker was part of the family that owned it.  She acknowledged that she was, and another older lady says, “And I am the Aunt…”  I explained who I was, and mentioned Terry’s name….  “Oh, what a sweet young man that Terry was…and your sister came through a few years back.”  Terry had worked at the lodge during the summers that he was in college.

At the spot where I took the first picture are these markers, Top Left: Keith Dever, 1923-2011, Marian Dever, 1927-2017, Bottom Left: Bambi Darnell, 1978-2012, and the large one: Crete Dever1892-1993 and Danny Dever 1885-1973.  However, the ‘Aunt’, who I assume is Laura Dever, the general manager of the lodge, said that countless number of people have had their ashes spread at the pond…she wishes that they had a list of all the people over the years.  (You are permitted to scatter ashes on your property that you own or other private property with the permission of the owner.)

   

   

The entire time Patti was married to Terry, and during the time they knew each other before marriage, I was living far away from Sacramento.  Yes, I met Terry a number of times, but we never had the opportunity to become close.  At his funeral I learned more about him from friends and family and the Priest who performed the service than I had ever known about him…for that, I was always sad that I never got to know him better.  You always think, “There will be time…”  Well, that is not always the case.

  

Just down the highway from the lodge is Chapel on the Rock, officially named Saint Catherine of Siena Chapel.  What a pretty Catholic Church built in 1936, but first envisioned by Monsignor Joseph Bosetti in 1916.  It is still in use today, and if you click on the far right picture, you can even see some people coming out of a church service as we drove by.

And here is a picture of Long’s Peak along highway 7.  Colorado has 58 mountain peaks exceeding 14,000 feet, and Long’s Peak is the farthest most northern peak that is over 14,000.  Long’s Peak is named in honor of explorer Stephen Harriman Long, a U.S. army explorer, topographical engineer, and railway engineer, and is featured on the Colorado state quarter. 

   

 

It was a 65 mile trip over to Meeker Lodge, and on the way back we took a side trip up to Bear Lake.  Today we saw two moose, three deer, three or four elk (only showing picture of two), and a family of turkeys…that is momma turkey in front of that bus shutting down the road while the babies have just crossed (babies along the right side of the roadside).

Bear Lake is a very pretty place, but getting a parking place, even on a Wednesday afternoon, is very difficult…easier for us with the ADA parking tag. 

Other lakes we passed included Mary’s Lake…

..Lilly Lake…

  

…and a few un-named (to us at least), high altitude (11,500 feet level at least) lakes, some of which were green due to the glaciers which feed them.

Our trip today took seven hours, most of it spent in the car driving and/or viewing.  The Rocky’s are so massive, and so is the Rocky Mountain National Park, where vehicle speeds are normally 35 mph, with sharp turns, and amazing views. 

We both feel that it probably ranks in the top ten of places we have been…if you lump the Alaska trip into one big place.  Although we are here at Lake Granby for another five full days, due to the crowds of Labor Day I doubt we will enter the park again on this trip.  Yesterday (Tuesday) we went to Berthoud Pass, and I will post a blog about that on Friday or Saturday.

Rest in Peace brother Terry…I know you are enjoying the view….

Another Bullwinkle Sighting

At Sunset Point Campground, Lake Granby, CO

Headed up to the Kawuneeche Visitor Center near the Rocky Mountain National Park’s southwest entrance.  Most people who visit the park come in through Estes Park, a town on the eastern boarder of the National Park.  Tomorrow or Friday we will enter the park, if the weather cooperates, and we wanted to visit the Visitor’s Center ahead of time, since it is only 12 miles from our camp.  Just before the visitor’s center, we see a line of cars pulled over from both sides…I figured it was a bear…but it was a pair of moose.  This one above is our best shot of the day, captured by Marcia.

Marcia took this shot too of the same moose through a crowd of people who had gotten out of their cars…I moved a little forward, as did the moose, and that is how she got the good shot of it (first picture).

The other moose is more shy…darting into the brush away from the crowd.  And that was our moose sightings for the day…it had been since Alaska since we had seen moose…and here we see two without even trying.

On our way back to Sunset Point Campground, we saw a sign to the Grand Lake Lodge, and decided to swing into the parking lot for a quick look.  Not bad, but I think I like the cars more than the lodge. 

Grand Lake Lodge opened in 1920, the same year the Trail Ridge Road into Rocky Mountain National Park opened.  The lodge, once on Park land, consists of around 100 various structures (cabins, lodges, etc.)  And one can get a pretty good view of Grand Lake, Colorado’s largest and deepest natural lake. (picture below)

We found our way between Grand Lake and Shadow Mountain Reservoir through the city of Grand Lake, and got this picture on the far northeastern side of Shadow Mountain Reservoir looking to the southwest.  It is a large lake, very blue water and we even saw…

…a few geese in the water, along with a sailboat or two….

Next we passed our entrance to the campground, and continued out along the southern shore of Lake Granby to Arapaho Bay.  We didn’t drive all the way to the Arapaho Campground at the tip of the bay.  It is a slightly bumpy at time dirt road, which takes you over the dam (which was the bumpiest part of it), and it really shows the enormity of how large Lake Granby is.  The shot above is looking to the northeast, below it is a view of the northwest.

So far we are loving our time here at Sunset Point Campground…the camp hosts are very friendly, and stay right on top of everything.  Now, if we can get these afternoon thunderstorms to go away….

Cassiar Highway is Breathtaking – and a Moose with a Calf

July 28th

I have read many blogs of people here in Alaska, Yukon, or upper British Columbia, and many have seen lots of Moose.  As for us, we have seen three, now five.  Marcia got the picture above (along with a few other shots), while I got the picture below (and a series of them as they crossed the river).

What got me was how the mom was protecting the baby until she knew “we” were of no danger to them…and then they crossed the river very direct, very forceful, and then they were gone.

This picture above was Marcia’s first shot.  We “get the shot”, then start zooming in.  You can see the white arrow that I added, and that is how far away the moose and the baby were from us. 

The poor calf had to swim…doesn’t have the long legs that mama has.  But they both made it across…and Marcia and just looked at each other and could not believe what we saw.  Here I was stopped on a bridge in the upper British Columbia area just to get a picture of the lake to the left, and the river to the right. 

But our day started out much earlier than when we saw the moose.  After emptying our tanks, and then filling up with gas, we turned south on Highway 37, the Cassiar Highway.  As you can see by the sign, we have 669 km to get to Hyder, which is 415 miles.  Well, we won’t be doing that in one day, that’s for sure.

 

Off we go…with mountains to our south beckoning our way, along a highway which is less used than the Alaskan Highway, and much narrower, but in fairly good condition for most of today’s ride…except for the construction area due to a recent road washout.  More on that later.

     

We quickly drive by numerous small lakes, and over rivers.  The sky is cloudy, with the sun shining at times, but like yesterday it strikes us how clean the air smells.  It is 10:30, around 65 degrees, and it is just wonderful!

The mountains get closer…not too fast since we are traveling around 45 mph.  The only harsh thing are old forest fire scars…which we know in years to come will produce an even stronger forest…but few of us will be around to see that day.

A few cars pass us, and this guy here is also traveling around 45 mph…later he drops to under 40 and I do pass him.  It is just one of those highways in which one could be “not in a hurry” if they wish.

As we get closer to the mountains, the skies do turn gray.  We have some rain, but nothing that lasts very long, nothing which will wash the dust off which has caked on the past few days since we left Haines.

The lakes have hues to them…this one has a green hue…some are opal, some are turquoise. 

    

Our travel for the day is not half over…we have not seen the moose yet…we have only traveled for 80 miles.   They call it the Cassiar Highway…the mountains above (and others shown already) are part of the Cassiar Mountain Range.   Most of the Jade mined in the world is mined in these mountains.  Some how I was able to sneak by “Jade City” without Marcia yelling “STOP”.  My dad taught me that sometimes it is best to keep ones mouth shut…this was one of the times.    There “was” a town called Cassiar…it is now a ghost town.  They mined asbestos there…which is now rarely used due to the dangers involved with asbestos.

This is the only shot where I stopped just to take a picture of that which is behind us.  Another motorhome was traveling behind us…I waved it on but they nearly stopped anyway thinking we were having problems…until I showed them my camera and they zoomed onward. 

There was a pullout where I once again got out and took this panoramic of Joe Irwin Lake (above).  Just a bit down the road the Dease River, which links Anvil Lake to Joe Irwin Lake (and many other lakes we went by today), crosses under a bridge…this is the river where we saw the moose.  The Dease River flows for 165 miles ti the  northeast, and finally into the Liard River, which we crossed over while on the Alaska Highway. 

    

Here are two more shots of the Dease River as it winds through more lakes.  There are so many lakes, and very few markers saying what they are, that I couldn’t even  guess what lakes they are.  Frankly, I am surprised we only saw two moose today.

And we finally make it to Dease Lake.  This picture is of the northern portion of the lake.  The lake once had much activity around it as the area was highly mined for gold. 

Then the road came to a halt…for about 25 minutes.  Back in June a heavy rain storm came through the area and there was a massive road collapse which shut highway 37 down for a few days.  They quickly got to work on it and restored traffic one lane at a time. 

    

The pilot truck arrive, and escorted us along for a few miles…and they were very actively working on the roadway.  I never could tell exactly where the major collapse was, but from my memory I am certain it was in this area.   Soon we were at the community of Dease Lake where many vehicles needed to fill up with gas since it was many miles before the next gas station. We were near 1/2 full, and I did not want to get much below 1/2 along this highway since you never are sure when the next gas station is located, and how much they will charge.  The price was only slightly higher than what we paid earlier in the day.

   

I commented to Marcia that we had been driving 150 miles, and my mind was so overwhelmed with the things I had seen that I did not know if I could take any more. I felt the same way when we pulled into Skagway, into Haines, into Seward…but this had now become a six hour drive with at least another hour to go to cover the next 50+ miles.   I guess I convinced her … she quickly went to sleep.  Now I have a picture of that…but if I published it, I doubt I would live to publish anything else.

    

Anyway, Marcia did wake up as we crossed over the Stikine River.  That large bridge in the previous group of pictures is the bridge shown in the above pictures of the Stikine River.  The Stikine River is nearly 400 miles long, and it contains what the call the “Grand Canyon of the Stikine”, a 45 mile stretch which has been compared to the Grand Canyon in Arizona…this canyon has walls nearly 1,000 feet deep.  The Canyon is located just upstream along the river in the picture above left…and is known for its white water rapids.  Not sure how to get to it…there are no roads.

We settled in at the Mountain Shadow RV Park for the night.  A 200 mile trip which felt like we had traveled 500 miles through absolutely gorgeous scenery.  Out here in the wilderness…and it is a wilderness…we have no TV stations, no cable TV, slow Internet where they allow you 200 megs per day, and the cleanest air, most wonderful background, with about 20 other fellow travelers.  The grass, for Bubba and Skruffy, was plush, green, and there were another dozen dogs in the park.  By morning, when we pulled out at 9:30, only two other travelers were in the park, one who got to the dump station just before us, and the other was right behind us (that would be the guy cleaning his window in the picture next to us in the picture above).  As for the RV Park, it is nice…and for sale…no idea what they are asking, but one has to remember, you have just a couple of months of potential campers driving by each year.  But what a view!