Trappers Lake

The road to Trappers Lake on a rainy day.

Sometimes one needs a break from camping. I know that probably sounds ironic to those of you who never get to camp, but it's true. You want a hot shower, to be able to sleep at night without the coyotes coming around and waking you up, and a warm bed when the night breezes start to get chilly.

Last of the summer flowers in the high country

Not having much in way of barterable assets, I needed someplace cheap. After some searching for such a place on the internet, I decided to rent a small cabin up the North Fork of the White River above Meeker, Colorado. Part of the plan was to go to Trappers Lake, which I'd heard of since I was a kid but had never visited.

My first memory of the lake was tied in with our neighbor, Old Man Warfield. I'm sure he had a first name, but we just called him Old Man Warfield—of course, not to his face, then he was Mr. Warfield.

Old Man Warfield had a long white beard and we figured he was about the age of Noah, if not older. He had lost his license to drinking, so he would drive in a big circle around his property. He would really get his old car going, and we kids would watch in amazement as he barely made the corners. My dad said Old Man Warfield had once worked with Henry Ford.

Trappers Lake in mist. Lots of snags from previous fires.

My mom would send us over to his place every Sunday with a big plate of Sunday dinner and the invite to go to church with us. Old Man Warfield always told us he went to church every chance he got, but his church was Trappers Lake. When he could get a ride up there, he was in heaven. He loved Trappers Lake.

The back trail from the lake

I left the desert and made it to the cabin and decided to visit the lake the next day. When I woke, it was raining, but I went anyway. It was a wet and soggy day, in the 30s, and it felt like snow, but I finally got to visit Mr. Warfield's paradise.

The road to heaven...

I guess his idea of heaven and mine are different, as I prefer to be dry and warm. But even in the mist and fog and snags, it was a beautiful place.

And a surprise, a stunning red fox.