After a beautiful seven weeks, the time has come to leave the mountains and depart for more civilized and less magical parts of the world. So a short valedictory to my summer home, the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. Here is the lab’s home: the townsite of Gothic, once home to a small mining town. We are looking down at the lab from the summit of Gothic Mountain, a change of nearly 3000′ elevation. Many of the lab’s buildings are historic mining cabins, scattered through the meadows and woods.

Even more recent cabins are somewhat rustic. Here is Porcupine Cabin, which I briefly and happily shared with my labmate.

Porcupine was a small cabin, featuring crumbling walls, a surplus of mice, and a bonus family of tree squirrels. But a beautiful place to wake up in the morning, and to stay dry when the rains came. Thoreau comes to mind: This was an airy and unplastered cabin, fit to entertain a travelling god, and where a goddess might trail her garments.

And it was a truly special place, with front-door views like these.

Now the summer season is over, and I must return to a less charmed life – all good things have their end. Until next summer!