Flying with the Angels

Okay, not really.  But Angel Fire is a ski resort which cleverly converts into a family playground in the summer.  We had a lot of morning clouds and afternoon rain during our stay, and kept checking the weather forecast for the perfect day to ride the chair lift.  Our last day at Eagle Nest looked like it would be perfect.

The day didn’t begin well.  Ron snapped this picture of the early fog.  You can barely see the outline of the hills across the lake.

But the fog lifted and we were off to Angel Fire Resort.  The ski lift was longer than I expected.

We hiked around on top of the mountain, sometimes gasping for air at over 10000 feet.

If you ever wondered how to identify the various conifers, this sign is pretty interesting.

We had been told there was a mountain lake, but obviously the teller hadn’t been there in a while.

We saw what we believe to be bobcat tracks.  So cool.

And the flattest chapel ever.

I know a lot of places open their ski lift in the summer, but Angel Fire takes it several steps farther.  I was impressed with the disk golf course they created on top of the mountain.

But the really big attraction consisted of numerous mountain bike trails down the mountain.  Like ski runs, they are rated as to difficulty.  I thought this was genius!  Here’s a family all suited up and ready to begin their trip down.

And in case you were wondering how the bikes get up there, they have their own chairs on the lift!

Here we are coming in for a landing back at the bottom.

While we were in the area, I kept saying I wanted to get a picture of the purple flowers that were blooming everywhere.  I was told they were penstemon.  Finally on the last day, I did.