First of all, if you are under sixty years old, be prepared to catch various amounts of hell about bird watching. For some reason, people believe that bird watching is like knitting. Reserved for the old and in the way. The bird nerd conjures up images of the quintessential retired white couple at a nondescriptContinueContinue reading “How To: Birdwatch Before Retirement”
Author Archives: William Bussard
No Better Time Than Now
This morning, I looked down at my beat-to-hell tennis shoes. I had purchased them in early spring to be sported as hip, casual office attire. Although at forty-one, being hip is failing me miserably. These sweet “kicks” saw the office a only few times before the Stay-At-Home order relegated them to being my everyday shoes.ContinueContinue reading “No Better Time Than Now”
Dispersed Campsite – Clear Creek
I sound like a broken record. Get to this dispersed area EARLY! This one is on The Dyrt for god’s sake. That website and app are okay, but there is nothing more exciting than taking a chance on a dispersed looking area, yelling at each other for an hour, then capitalizing on an amazing campsite.ContinueContinue reading “Dispersed Campsite – Clear Creek”
Campground – Grandstaff, Utah
Last June we camped near Leadville, CO where it was in the upper 30’s at night and we cranked up the four dog camp stove every night. We wound down out of the mountains and across the desert into Utah near Moab where sleeping bags were quite unnecessary. Like trying to sleep in an ovenContinueContinue reading “Campground – Grandstaff, Utah”
A Cleaner Clear (Stream/Pond Cleanup)
Hello friends of Planet Earth. Put September 12th on your calendar! Confluences & Influences with Denver Trout Unlimited, Adams County Parks & Rec., The Greenway Foundation, Prodigy Coffeehouse, Rep Your Water, Thrivent Financial, Blue Quill Angler, Trouts, Fishpond, NAPA, and many local businesses are organizing a cleanup of Clear Creek as well as a smallContinueContinue reading “A Cleaner Clear (Stream/Pond Cleanup)”
Rovr – The Perfect Cooler?
I started my life watching the old red and white IGLOO fall apart over a single summer as it was strapped by bungees to the bed of a flatbed ranch truck. It was duct taped where cracked and the handles, long fallen off, were replaced by bolted in cabinet hardware. Fond memories, no doubt, ofContinueContinue reading “Rovr – The Perfect Cooler?”
Wet Wading
If you are a fly fisherman in any sense of its madness, you love summer heat for so many reasons. Throwing stupid big dry flies to gluttonous trout and burbling poppers to a bass or two on your lunch break, and not bundling up like Randy in A Christmas Story. The most glorious aspect though,ContinueContinue reading “Wet Wading”
Dispersed Camping – Homestake Reservoir Road
Ever think, “Man, it’s hot in Denver. Let’s take the kids out of school on Friday and go camping.” Then you get there and the mountains are still snowed in? If you haven’t put your kids through the discomfort of this, you should. They’ll learn more than they did in school that day anyway. TakeContinueContinue reading “Dispersed Camping – Homestake Reservoir Road”
Dispersed Camping – Upper Williams Fork
Byers Peak Wilderness. Camp on the banks of the easy flowing William’s Fork river. Catch and eat some fresh fish. The air here is clear and clean. Try not to let the giant Henderson Mill molybdenum mine just over Ute Pass disturb you. David Ellis tepee and Davis wall tent. Looks like a Civil WarContinueContinue reading “Dispersed Camping – Upper Williams Fork”
Dispersed Camping – Winter Park Private Pond
(This is now private, so don’t try to find this spot) The summer days were perfectly warm as Mary Helen and I sat in our cozy back yard one evening sipping cold beers listening to the exciting sounds of the city. Ambulance sirens, dogs barking, and the occasional gunshot. Suddenly it dawned on us thatContinueContinue reading “Dispersed Camping – Winter Park Private Pond”
Dispersed Camping – Geneva Creek
Scanning Google Earth for dispersed camping is in a sense, relaxing, yet nowhere near representative of an actual place on our little blue real planet. Whether it be the undulating Rocky Mountains or even your own neighborhood there is no way to get the feel of a space until you actually set foot on it.ContinueContinue reading “Dispersed Camping – Geneva Creek”
Kelty Camp Chair – Best on the Market
Sorry REI, but you just go ahead and stick to the lightweight granola backpacker gear. Kelty has the complete camp chair figured out. Probably why REI sells them as well. They kick ass. I ended up replacing most of our camp chairs with the Discovery Lowdown Chair. We’ve had the older model for years andContinueContinue reading “Kelty Camp Chair – Best on the Market”
Campground – Florida Campground
Our eldest child became a Summer Camper a couple years ago at wonderful Colvig Silver Camp in Durango. We love Durango. It is decidedly Colorado with a western flair, but stretches its internationalist palate with delectable eateries such as Jean Pierre Bakery and The Irish Embassy Pub. And if you are into outdoor sports, DuranglersContinueContinue reading “Campground – Florida Campground”
Dispersed Camping – Winter Park Cemetery Site
Friday came fast that week and I was swamped at work with things that I thought I couldn’t put off until Monday for some stupid reason. A tepee in the shade, and tiny children running around everywhere. Gypsies. Since we had just been up the week before, we loaded everything already organized in the carContinueContinue reading “Dispersed Camping – Winter Park Cemetery Site”
Dispersed Camping – French Creek
You wanna know how to blow $1,000 bucks real quick like? Start a campfire during a Stage II Fire Ban in the Arapaho/Roosevelt National Forests, that’s how. Unauthorized flame. Colorado. As I sometimes like to point out in the right company, the Colorado Rocky Mountains were once considered the northern portion of Texas. I sometimesContinueContinue reading “Dispersed Camping – French Creek”
Campground – Seedhouse
Seedhouse Campground / Group Campground. Easy to get to yet far enough from Denver, and not too many idiots, besides yours truly. With pandemics and fire bans making for an interesting summer of 2020, you better call some ranger stations to see what wilderness and counties are allowing campfires (since camping without a fire sucks).ContinueContinue reading “Campground – Seedhouse”
Dispersed Camping – Flat Tops – Yampa, CO
Fire bans, COVID 19, and unemployment rates in Denver at record levels? You’re going to have to drive further baby! Once upon a time I would hit the road to a green area on the frayed Colorado Gazetteer and with fingers crossed, find a nice little dispersed campsite near a babbling brook full of eagerContinueContinue reading “Dispersed Camping – Flat Tops – Yampa, CO”
Pearl Jam and Kansas Porn
Last summer I did what millions of people have done while on their way to somewhere beautiful. I drove through Kansas. With a marathon ten hours of chewing up blacktop, I had time to observe the small variations in the Great Plains landscape. When named “Great”, that word had a different meaning than our modernContinueContinue reading “Pearl Jam and Kansas Porn”
The Blackfoot Attack
As adults we are aware that trust is earned and taken absolutely seriously, but as a parent, there is something inside us that can’t help but test this trust with our children. This may be our worst attribute as adults. This trusting little person has depended on us its whole life and knows nothing elseContinueContinue reading “The Blackfoot Attack”
Review – TFO Lefty Kreh 9′, 4 Weight
Temple Fork Outfitters has been making very high quality rods for so long, they ran out of names so they started naming them after famous fly fishermen. Or something like that. Audi never seems to run out of new names for their yuppy sports cars, but X and Z models are getting tired in myContinueContinue reading “Review – TFO Lefty Kreh 9′, 4 Weight”
The Confluences 