Sailing at 8,366'

[ahmch]

Hello mates,

Got back from a beautiful trip up to Grand Lake in Colorado.  Wanted to share a couple of pics and some highlights.

The camping and fishing were nice. The sailing was teriffic and the scenery was simply amazing. We sailed Shadow lake which is next to Shadow mountain, which is near Rocky Mountain National Park.  We had good wind.  The first day we sailed all day and the wind rose during our long beat back home.  I wanted to see what she could do and found out.  We broached and did an awkward pirouette into the wind, then popped right back up.  The next day we had similar wind , but I put in a reef and managed to sty in control with no trouble.

I camped on board while my buddy camped on shore, a good way to do it as we are both pretty good sized folk.  Had good fishing each day and took a drive up to 12,000' on day two.
That evening after a sail we dined at the lodge in Grand Lake.  I recommend it, and the scotch.

Here are some pics.

My heart goes out to the families of the Arizona Firefighters.... God Bless them

Andrew


Shadow Lake Camp



Colorado River at 11,000'



Grand Lake

[Salty19]

I've spent some time in CO the past year, a beautiful state full of unexpected natural surprises.
Thanks for the trip story and pics!

[brackish]

What?   You mean that lake thaws out and you can sail on it.   Hey I go to Winter Park/Fraser every year, have been up there 18 consecutive years, and I've never seen that lake other than frozen.  This opens a whole new vista........

[skip1930]

The whole concept of that much water up that high at 11,000 foot above sea level just intrigues me.
Begs the question; How did that water get up there that high?
Of course the answer is evaporation from the heat of the Sun, water vapor condensing on a tiny piece of dust and falling back down as a rain drop.
That's how any falling water is replenished.

On National Public Radio, NPR ran a story about some organization wanting to divert the waters of the Mississippi River
and pump this water up over the Rockies to the deserts of Arizona and California and points West. Mother Nature can't
be fooled and there are Natural and Earthy reasons why these areas in the West are a perpetual desert.

This idea of pumping water up and over a mountain range is pure folly for the simple reason that the quantity of pumps
necessary to move that much water up hill thousands of foot would required more then 100% of all the electricity generated
from the edge of the Mississippi River, East to the Atlantic ocean, North to Canada and South to Florida, putting everybody who lives here without electricity.

Just a thought about high pounds, rivers, and lakes.
Those are sure nice pictures.

skip.