Cooling Off In Red Feather Lakes

It is so HOT, HOT, HOT right now, with the temperatures soaring to over 100* F or 39*C. In order to escape some of the heat, we packed a picnic lunch and headed up to the high country with Mike & Lauren. We love doing our little day trips all over our beautiful state, and it was a perfect day for day-tripping too. It was still warm, though very beautiful up in Red Feather Lakes, but it was considerably cooler than it was at the base of the mountains, where we live. We drove up to Red Feather Lakes. Located in the Rocky Mountains northwest of Fort Collins, Red Feather Lakes is a rustic mountain village surrounded by the Roosevelt National Forest. It is only a little over an hour northwest of us, and not too far from the Wyoming border.

This was our picnic view.

We had lakes both in front of us and behind us.

Red Feather Lakes, Colorado has a history rooted in ranching, logging, and mining, but it is best known for its development as a resort area starting in the early 20th century. The area’s name is linked to Princess Tsianina Redfeather Blackstone, an American Indian singer who inspired the naming of the Red Feather Mountain Lakes Association in 1923. Purportedly, the namesake was Princess Redfeather’s grandfather, Chief Redfeather, a Shoshone Chief whose grave was supposed to be in the area, though after a thorough scouring of the history books, there is no evidence of a Shoshone named Red Feather, or any similar character who led a group of renegade warriors, known as the Wolf Clan in American Primeval. It is more likely that the name Redfeather came from the Pueblo People, who believed that a red feather worn on the head meant someone who was known as a spiritual healer or someone who had knowledge and experience with the energies associated with healing. The Ute People were also very prevalent in the area, so the name could have been from an elder or highly regarded Ute as well. Or, the name Redfeather could also just be folklore. No one knows for sure.

In many Native American cultures, receiving a feather, particularly an eagle feather, is a significant honor. It can symbolize a variety of things, including trust, honor, strength, wisdom, power, and freedom. The specific meaning can vary between tribes and individuals, but generally, it represents a deep connection to the spiritual world and is a sign of respect and recognition for a person’s accomplishments or virtues.

In the early 1800’s, the small mountain community was made up of loggers and ranchers. To the best of my knowledge, there are not a lot of Native Americans who now call Red Feather Lakes home, though they are still a very proud, tight-knit community, who love their little piece of the mountain. There are a lot of proud Vietnam Veterans who now call Red Feather lakes home though.

We took our time getting up to Red Feather Lakes. The journey was more the purpose than the actual destination. We stopped to look at the rivers that were flowing rapidly with all the snow runoff.

We drove through the mountains.

And we stopped for deer sightings all before we stopped for lunch. At first, we only saw this one young buck. He is a Mule-tailed deer.

But before he ran off for the day, he invited some friends over to greet us as well. They stayed just long enough to say “hi” before taking off once again.

After lunch we went into town briefly before heading back down the mountain, mainly for a quick potty break. “Town” is only a few small businesses and the small library and post office, decorated with lots of pretty mountain flowers.

A couple of cute not-so-wild critters.

Not real dinosaur tracks, but fun all the same.

On our way home, we came down a different way than we went up, and had slightly different views.

It was a fun driving adventure that gave us a cool, much needed respite from the oppressive heat and fun happy memories to share. I will tell about one more adventure we had on the way home, but I will save that for tomorrow. I want to keep you coming back for more. 🙂

Have a great day and turn every day into an adventure. Stay cool, stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.