I doubt there’s any gold in them thar hills of the Ozarks. Right now, though, we’re on a prospecting mission in the Rockies.

Part of my soul lives out there where the mountains are a mile and more high.  However, the Ozark hills make more sense for doing all the other things I enjoy doing, like growing the ginseng and wildcrafting medicinal plants.

Gold in them thar hills?

Rob also has longed for the Rockies all his life and so we decided to just get ourselves a little placer gold mine! Supposedly there is a little gold there, but there’s no real telling whether we’ll actually find any or not.

But we sure intend to have fun trying.

Here’s some pictures from yesterday and today.

On the way there I noticed some power lines that were still using the glass insulators. This was somewhere outside Pueblo, CO.

Not in Kansas Anymore

The first sight of mountains always excites me, especially when coming in from the plains. I even enjoy seeing our Ozarks on the horizon upon returning when I’ve gone out of the hills for whatever reason.

Some more of the early foothills near Cañon City, past Pueblo.

It’s sad that it’s only a memory, and hard to imagine that once these magnificent animals ranged free in herds so large the path of their passing stretched a mile wide.

Bad Weather

The skies darkened the stars and moon during the night and blotted the sun out the next day. We took turns with the driving and napping so we could drive straight through and save the cost of a motel for the first night.

Between lightning flashes, we saw a tornado forming in Kansas. I didn’t get a pic of that.  And once in Colorado it was still raining.

Finally the Big Mountains

The snow capped peaks appeared finally as we rounded the next curve and were able to see over the hill.

That’s all for today. As soon as I get a chance, I’ll post again with pictures from our gold-panning adventure! I’m pretty sure there IS gold in them thar hills and I sure hope to find a few flakes or sprinkles of dust in my pan.