Pella Crossing
Sunday, 24 May 2020
After a rainy afternoon, I drove north on US 36 in search of mountain vistas with low clouds. Unfortunately, the mountains along US 36 north of Boulder were too close — the clouds appeared only from a distance. After passing Lefthand Canyon, I decided to head east to Hygiene. Having bicycled there a few times back in the day, I remembered a quiet farm town with an elementary school, cottonwood trees, and a couple of shops.
Like everything else, Hygiene has grown, and despite having its own post office, has been absorbed by the town of Longmont. The elementary school is still there, as are many of the small shops I remembered.
They also have an open space park that I didn’t remember, called Pella Crossing. This includes 250 acres of wetlands and ponds, crisscrossed by walking trails.
The temperature was in the 50s, the sky overcast. I smelled a subtle, musky swamp scent. I heard no traffic sounds — only birdsong: the place was filled with songbirds. A couple of ospreys soared past, chased by smaller birds. Despite the wet conditions, I noticed no mosquitos — perhaps because of the numerous swallows and flycatchers feasting on every insect they could find.
I walked a mile or so around one of the ponds, taking pictures along the way.
As a bonus, I even found a cloudy mountain vista.
