Hunting firewood

We've had glorious weather the past two weekends--mid 70s, blue skies, and lots of sun. So the husband and I spent some time in the great outdoors hunting firewood.

Here in Colorado, and in many other states I'm sure, the BLM sells permits to common folks like us to collect firewood on their land. We're limited to cutting trees that are already down or dead, which means you have to go hunting for them.

The area we chose to go hunting is above Gateway, Colorado, which is quite possibly one of the prettiest places going and is close to the top of the world. The views go on For Ever. 



Of course, you don't get to the top of the world on a 4-lane paved highway. Nope. You go up a narrow, barely one-lane wide dirt road that is so steep you have to use 4WD. In fact, this sign pretty much sums up the situation.



Sadie Bug loves to drive in the mountains with her head out the window.





She tips her nose up in the air and breathes in and out quickly, sampling the air. When she catches the scent of something she likes, she takes slow, deep breaths in and then snorts the air out. It's pretty cute.



The drive features crazy hair-pin turns and a huge elevation gain.



And there are some nervous moments where you feel like you're strapped into a small car slowly ticking up the rickety roller coaster ride, unable to see what's past the area where the road seems to end...



Once you get to the top, the views are amazing. In the distance you can see the La Sal mountains of Utah. There are six peaks above 12,000 feet. 



As scary as the drive up was, it's even more scary coming down when you're pulling a trailer full of really heavy wood that's in a hurry to get downhill.



But the views of the valley below just can't be beat.