The Alpine Loop, Colorado

Before I start to relate our adventures, I want to say a few words about my sister, Dona, who is very ill. As some of you know, she is my older sister, is widowed and living in an assisted living facility in Florida. Over time she has gotten weaker and weaker, and is only able get about in a wheel chair. Recently she has been feeling very weak and sleepy. This was finally diagnosed as heart trouble and she had a pacemaker installed. For a short while this seemed to improve her condition, but over the last several weeks she has weakened. She is back in her assisted living home, but she is still desperately ill, and we all fear that she will not recover, but rather succumb to her illness. I love her very much and worry about her. She is quite cheerful, noe she is back in her own room with her own things, and her daughter is keeping a close eye to be sure she is receiving proper care.

Since our last post,we have left Lyons, CO. Before we left, we took a last look at the eaglet in the nest high in the cliff above our campground in Lyons. the eagle chick has gotten quite large, and we believe it will have fledged, before we return in a month or so. It moves about the nest a can be seen peering over the edge of the nest, as seen in the accompanying photo.



We are now in South Fork, Co --- South Fork so-named for where the

south fork of the Rio Grande joins the

main river that flows in from the west.

We are at a four-wheeling rally, where we have met many of our friends from our RV club, the Escapees.

The altitude here is 8,200 feet, and I am having a little trouble getting acclimatized. We go four wheeling in the Rockies, mostly following roads that go to abandoned old mines and now defunct mining towns. We frequently

are travelling at high altitudes and usually eat our lunch at around 11,000 feet --- where I really find myself moving pretty slowly.

The accompanying photos are of a trip we took Tuesday around trails known as the Alpine Trail. We drove to Lake City (about 70 miles, from our campground) over on the other side of the Continental Divide

We drove over one pass, Cinnamon Pass" See the photo of Madie getting ready to take a picture. We had lunch at a ghost town, Animas Forks. (See photo.) This used to be the site of mines and stamping mills at one time.

We then continued our journey up over Engineer Pass, which is 12,000 feet in altitude. There are two photos, which give you some idea of the tremendous view we had over the mountains. It seems remarkable to be able to drive to such a place. I know I would never be able to hike any distance at such an altitude.

Tomorrow we go four wheeling up old mining roads up to the Continental Divide, following Rat Creek. What an interesting name!