On Labor Day Monica suggested we throw the dogs in the truck, pick up a couple of sandwiches, and take a drive up to the mountains.
So we did. We ended up at the Little St. Charles Creek, off Robb Road, near Lake San Isabel. We spent an afternoon up there last summer, too. It’s a beautiful spot.
Like the rest of Pueblo County, the Little St. Charles has been the beneficiary of a wet August. It was green and lush and cool; it reminded me somewhat of Oregon. A thunderstorm rumbled in the distance for most of the time we were there.
As we were making the drive up, we saw a bear along the road just outside of Rye, poking its head out of the brush. That was a first. It served as reminder as well that autumn’s getting underway, and those choke cherries along the path, while pretty to look at, are a significant part of a bear’s winter preparation.
I found the Robb Road turnoff and we wended our way along the dirt road, but I missed the turn that would have gotten us to the creek. And of course, as I attempted a Y-turn on the forest service road, another car came rumbling up the road. Go figure. You think you’re in the middle of nowhere and civilization pokes its head out of the brush.
We finally got the creek. The dogs heralded our arrival…for like ten minutes. They were very excited to be there. Monica and I took them on a short stroll along the creek, then went back to the truck for lunch. A light rain began to fall.
As we ate, the dogs romped through the brush and splashed in the creek. At one point Rafa found a soccer ball in the bushes and began to thrash it about. Reina, who seemingly never misses a chance to enforce a No Fun zone where ever Rafa happens to be, intervened, and quickly put an end to Rafa’s amusement by deftly heading the ball away the way Carles Puyol might do to a pass intended to Cristiano Ronaldo.
The rain began to pick up a bit, and along with the specter of bears roaming the hillsides, we ended our mountain getaway. We gathered up the dogs, wound our way back to the highway and ended up taking the long way home over the 12-Mile road into Beulah and back to Pueblo.
