September 18 - 21, 2016:
On leaving the campground at Estes Park, I stop at the dump station where they have a sign, "dump black tanks only", so I guess it’s OK to dump gray water on the ground ? I look down at the drain pipe and it's not OK to dump at all, it’s completely full to the brim, but no out of order sign. After a few expletives I go to the Sani dumps web site, look for other dump stations and the County Fairgrounds shows up. As it is only a couple of miles away and I go there and dump with no problems and no signage about a charge, amazing how things sometimes work out.
Our drive to Nederland, Colorado is only about 50 miles but the route is very scenic and called the Peak to Peak Highway. We debated about taking this route as the name sounds rather ominous and there was a longer, less scenic alternate route. In the end we went for the gusto and it was a good move, a beautiful route although plenty steep in places.
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Aspen road view near Nederland
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We are house sitting for a few days at our friends, Judy and Hughes Moir while they are away. They live in the forested hills outside of Netherland Colorado, a very interesting town. We were with them back in July at Logan Lake, British Columbia when they had to leave hurriedly as a forest fire was threatening their house. Thankfully the fire was stopped about a quarter mile away and we now get to see the house.
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The fire was a little too close for comfort
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Nederland which the locals refer to as “Ned” is a rustic, quirky and somewhat alternative culture small town in a beautiful 8,200 foot mountain setting. You won’t find any chain restaurants, stores or fast food in town, but if you need that you can simply drive the 15 miles through the Boulder Canyon to get to Boulder for that stuff. Nederland does have a diverse range of good culinary options available and businesses to cover all the basic needs. It’s an outdoors activity mecca with hiking, biking, fishing, hunting, running, rock climbing and skiing.
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Railcar used by Buffalo Bill Cody in his Wild West Show
converted into a coffee shop and cafe
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Train Cars Coffee
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Friendly door to the Pioneer Inn
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Historic town Hall
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Old garage with vintage Coca Cola sign
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Flash Mountain Flood Band performed at Train Cars Coffee
were really great !!!
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Steam shovel used during construction of the Panama Canal
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Present Netherland, formerly called Middle Boulder was the site of a Silver Mill for the Caribou Mine owned by Abel Breed. In 1874, Abel sold his Caribou Silver Mine to the Netherland of Holland mining company. The miners referred to Middle Boulder as “the Netherlands” meaning “low lands” as compared to the Caribou Mines at 10,000 foot elevation. In 1874 when the town incorporated, the people chose Netherland as the town’s official name.
The Silver mine was short lived, the Dutch company pulled out and by 1890 Nederland became nearly a ghost town. A second mining boom developed in the early 1900’s with the discovery of Tungsten used to make Steel. This continued until the 1950’s when mining faded away and Netherland then became mostly a beautiful place to live.
As we had a neighbor in our prior life in Hightstown, NJ who once lived in Boulder and thought it was the greatest place on Earth, we had to go there to take a look. We really didn’t see that much of it in about half a day, but the Pearl Street Mall area was awfully good. However, the traffic, the crowds, the trendiness of it and the development were too much for me. A nice place to visit but wouldn’t want to live there sort of place.
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Many Breweries and Restaurants are good
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Lots of activity in Boulder
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So many architectural wonders
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The Boulder Theater is really spectacular
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As is the Boulder Court House, but don't want
to go there
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Nicely landscaped Pearl Street Mall area
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Beautiful Buckingham Building
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Beautiful Odd Fellows Hall facade
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To get to Boulder from Nederland is quite a spectacular trip through Boulder Canyon which must have been an engineering feat when constructed. This road is in dire need of maintenance which eventually is going to be a nightmare for the local travelers. One of the beauties of Netherland, I think, is that it is a little remote and hidden away between the mountain peaks.
We notice a gravel side road heading into the rocks from the highway. I return at a later time to investigate and find a small creek flowing between towering rock formations. The caulk marks in the cracks going up the vertical rock faces, tell me that this is a prime rock climbing spot. It is also a prime fishing, hiking spot and photography spot. Unfortunately, the sky was mostly flat so the photos were drab.
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The Jeeps look small next to that rock,
a climbing route was directly overhead
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Crystal clear river
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Someone fun art project on a dead tree in the river, it fooled
me for a moment
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Old ranch building along the Boulder Canyon Road
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This house siting activity is pretty cool, large bathroom with shower, hot tub, satellite TV, working WiFi, this is the way to camp.
I frequent the Pioneer Bar downtown for lunch, have a really good bowl of green chili and strike up a conversation with a local woman. She tells me she has been coming to this bar for 40 years and it’s about the only thing in town that remains virtually unchanged. I was thinking they have done a god job of retaining the old town feel, but her point was that all the original town businesses are now tourist oriented and many of the residents are transients. She was definitely an aging hippie type who lived in a 10 X 20 cabin with no electricity or running water in a nearby old mining town. I have to wonder what the locals thought in the 1960's when all these young free spirited people came on the scene ?
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Pioneer Inn where several notable rock stars have performed
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I can’t help but notice one thing in Nederland, every store and restaurant I have gone in has had good music playing. We went to Crosscut Pizza which was excellent with nice classic music playing. We went across the street to the friendly Rustic Moose store, again nice music. The Pioneer Bar across the street has an open jam session night, a blues night and live bands most weekends. This town has many resident musicians and live music definitely lives here.
Judy and Hughes return on Tuesday evening and suggest several good sightseeing adventures for Wednesday. We start with a great breakfast at the Sundance Cafe followed by a ride through the old mining town of Eldora. There seems to be about 100 old cabins, many real log cabins, some newer, all rustic looking. We then drive to Brained Lake where we hike to Long Lake, over 9,000 foot elevation, in view of a glacier. Afterwards we return to Nederland for a ride on the incredible “Carousel of Happiness”. Back at the house, we watch the documentary film “Grampa’s in the tool shed” about Trygve Baugve who brought his frozen dead grandfather from Norway and stored him in a shed. Trygve eventually was deported, but the frozen body remains, after considerable controversy, and has become a major festival in town. Finally we have a fine dinning experience at the historic Gold Hill Inn adjacent to the Bluebird Lodge, both built in the 1870’s when Gold Hill was a vibrant mining town.
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Road through Eldora
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View along the Peak to Peak Highway
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View along the road to Brained Lake
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Trail view
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Judy and Twinkles with the dogs
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View from river bridge
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Hughes and Twinkles on the bridge
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It's an old vintage Carousel platform with hand carved
animals done by a local artisan. Very Cool !!!
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The bar at the Gold Hill Inn, I wonder if all these historic
bars originally had the girlie pictures ?
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I thoroughly enjoyed Nederland, it’s my kind of town and surely will return in the future. Last but not least, a special thanks to Judy and Hughes for their hospitality.
Next stop is Colorado Springs, Colorado,
Twinkles and Slick
