SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES
Winter can be pretty long in Colorado. Back in the 60,s we had no indoor facilities to ride in so we either did not ride or bundled up for short rides.. Once there was a hint of spring I was anxious to get up the mountains just, west of our home.
I taught school and was excited about the upcoming spring break. Warm sunny days were more prominent lately so we planned a trail ride up the canyon to the Lymon Linger ranch. My younger brother was a ranch hand there and got us permission to enjoy a real private area to ride in. The ranch stretches from the foothills west of Berthoud up through the mountains of the Saint Verain and the Rocky Mountain canyon to Estes Park. about 30 miles wide and 40 miles long.
Since school was out my two nephews 12 and 8 wanted to go along as well as a family friends daughter who was 12. We loaded our four horses, saddles, a lunch and drinks into our four horse trailer and we were off. It was a beautiful sunny morning but we still needed light jackets as Colorado mountain mornings can be a little chilly. We set off from the ranch headquarters with warm sun bearing down on us. What beautiful trails. We enjoyed the fresh smell of pines and even saw a few wild flowers breaking through the forest floor.
Even though the kids we young they were accomplished riders and we all had experienced horses. Everyone was enjoying our adventure. In the midst of all the splendor and beauty God had to offer us that day we were briefly joined on the trail by a great horned owl silently swooping down on us as a reminder that we were in his domain. Around lunch time we came upon a line shack and decided that would make a great lunch stop. While we were eating I noticed a very drastic change in the sky. Knowing how quickly Colorado weather could change I told the kids to finish up their lunch it was time to head back. Within minutes we were mounted up and headed back to the ranch house. I estimated we had rode at least three or four hours before we had stopped for lunch. This meant we were in for a challenge if we were to beat the approaching weather
The sky did not appear to have that much good weather left for us. The sky darkened more by the minute. I set a fast return pace but could feel we were in trouble.The temperature was dropping rapidly. Suddenly, big flakes of wet spring snow began to fall.. None of us were dressed for this event...
Sill at least two hours from our starting point all I could do was give the kids a pep talk and tell them the ranch was just over the next hill. nope not there . well it must be just around the next bend. Wrong again.The kids were not dealing well with our situation. My youngest nephew said his legs were frozen to the horse, which come to find out actually were. The young girl’s long hair hung in icicle dreadlocks that clanked as she bounced along. My older nephew had gone still and silent totally silent, he was in complete panic mode.
The snow was rapidly accumulating. Visibility was limited. Temperature continued to drop. We were in a bad situation.
The snow was now about six to eight inches deep. Suddenly we topped a hill and we could make out a faint glow at the bottom of the hill. A sigh a relief . We had made it back the the ranch. We had survived the spring blizzard! We put our horses in the barn and went into the ranch house to thaw out. It was quite an ordeal one I am not sure it is one I would like to repeat. As soon as the snow melted we were planning our next mountain trail adventure!
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