Every year the land trust that supervises our conservation easement has a fund-raising auction, taking bids on hikes on the various easement properties.

Here is the description of ours:



EVENT # 3
Bein Mountain Ranch: “Secluded Waterfalls”

HOW MANY
6-8 People

DATE and TIME PARAMETERS
May or June 2013 (depending on peak snow melt and group’s schedule)
Morning through Lunch

LOCATION
Bein Mountain Ranch Conservation Easement
on Rabbit Creek in the Big Thompson Canyon

REFRESHMENTS
Snacks at the Waterfall
Lunch on the Porch

DIFFICULTY LEVEL
Easy to Moderate
(two miles round-trip, elevation gain 300 ft., starting at 7,000 ft.)

Your group will treasure the journey and the destination on your hike to this hidden gem—a lovely, privately owned waterfall. On your way, view beaver dams and stroll through superb wildlife habitat for deer, bobcat, bear, and mountain lion. Wind through new forest growth in an area devastated by the 1976 Big Thompson flood. While admiring the waterfall, your group will enjoy snacks to fuel your return journey. To top off the excursion, relax with a delicious lunch, served on the porch of Laura and Gary’s cabin, where Laura, a descendent of the original owners, will tell stories about the flood and share anecdotes about the property and its settlers.

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When we did it last year, the hikers were all women, so the lunch was chicken lettuce wraps and quiche. I thought it was funny that the land trust people didn't trust us to guide the hike. Maybe they wanted some of nature's glory to reflect on them instead of us. They made us stay home and get the lunch ready.

We also offered a day of fishing with picnic. They told me that I had to come up with a picnic that was better than someone's wife would make, and we had to have wine and cheese at the end of the day. I was thinking the fishermen wouldn't want to have to stop at a specific time for lunch, so I'd put my idea of a really nice lunch in cooler, and they could snack and eat when they wanted to. And I thought I'd offer beer as well as wine since, judging by what they put in the trash can by the fishing parking, fishermen drink a lot more beer than wine.

It never came to be, though, because the people who won the bidding on the fishing decided not to use it, and the land trust didn't ask me this year if I wanted to do that one in addition to the waterfall. Since they didn't ask, I didn't offer.