Rocky Mountain High

A happy and wiped-out family at the top of Day Mountain

Toby and the bug breathe in the delicious air up above camp.

Wa-a-a-y down in the valley, you can see our little green-roofed cabin, partially obscured by an evergreen. And behind, just the bare beginnings of the devastation of the 2002 Hayman Fire.

This moonscape is our front yard. And this is after I dug up all the dry stalks and dandelion patches. We are hoping to create a little green lawn so Eliot has some concept of grass. Landscaping ideas, anyone?

YMCA Camp Shady Brook is located in Deckers, CO, in the Pike National Forest

The Y Camp Road follows a stretch of the South Platte River, revered as the site of some of the finest trout fishing in the country. We have not lived a single day here without seeing fly fishermen standing in the frigid waters, lines glinting in the sun.

Our daily walk down the road takes us along the South Platte

Eliot lounges on the bank of the river in his fancy jog stroller. The bug has no idea how blessed he is to have the musical score of his babyhood be the sweet babbling of these waters.

Fenway tries to blend in with the burn. In 2002, a National Forest Service employee started a ferocious fire that burned off 138,000 acres in our national forest. Many of the camp buildings were lost and had to be rebuilt (our house among them). The forest is trying to regenerate, but succession means it will be many years before we see lush tree cover again.

Our little cabin just inside the camp gates.