Cottonwood Creek tumbling toward Buena Vista, Cottonwood Pass at 12,000 feet and Cottonwood Lake are some of my favorite places in Colorado. The majestic peaks pour their stored snow into creeks that tumble out of the heights in Cottonwood Creek to Cottonwood Lake for enjoyment. It leaves the overflow of the lake to course its way to the Arkansas River where the primary sport is whitewater rafting.
The small town of Buena Vista is usually a pass through town on the way to somewhere else. But if you turn down main street and go toward the river, you will come into a planned old fashioned neighborhood. It is built to increase interaction through front porches and beautiful houses and shops. My favorite restaurant is the Eddyline. It has great art, the ability to have your dogs and eat outside, and a great pizza and brewery as well as healthy weird food I eat.
Cottonwood Pass is on the road to Crested Butte from Buena Vista. I wanted to see how I was breathing at high altitude. It was in the 50s on this warm July day. The split in the continental divide occurs here with the flow of mountain snow dividing and giving water to both sections of America – east and west. There was a small lake I could walk to and check my heart rate. It was FINE as long as I did not climb. This is such a weird limitation to altitude. The bear track was a good reminder that we are in a wild environment.
Cottonwood Lake is so special. It is a bumpy dirt road off the road to Cottonwood Pass and the lake was teeming with fish and people. The water fills and overflows this lake making it a great place for passing wildlife. I have visited this place in every season and it never disappoints. Fall is magnificent there. We walked separately along paths and trails along the lake and stopped to have some lunch.
“On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.” Isaiah 30:25-26 NASB