Mueller State Park

For the last ten days, my crew was working in a very cold place south of Denver called Mueller State Park. It's a very new park to Colorado, apparently not even 15 years old. Including the adjacent Fish and Wildlife land (which allows hunting, but is also protected from development and other evil human endeavors) the park covers over 12,000 acres of land. This was all donated by a family who saw the importance for protection for the herds of hundreds of elk migrating through their backyard every year, not the mention the black bears, bald eagles, and other more recently rare wildlife.
We were focused on thinning out a swath of land surrounding the visitors center. It was just under 10,000 ft. where we were working, and we had to haul all the logs and slash up a very long and steep hillside where we chipped it up and blew it back into the forest. In the morning it was as cold as 6 degrees, and when it eventually snowed, it was hard to keep fingers and toes warm while working with our saws! Quite an experience.
It's good to be back home in Durango, but it is very cold here too! The snow is coming soon, creeping down from the foothills.