Christmas Tree Cutting – In A Colorado Minute (Week 242)
If you live in Colorado and are the type of person that celebrates Christmas, you have got to do this: cut your own Christmas tree in the National Forest!
Scott, Pascal, Lisa, our dogs Whiskey and Johnny, and I had such a wonderful day: driving up to the Canyon Lakes Ranger District, near the Red Feather Lakes, and run around the Roosevelt National Forest looking for just the right tree and finally cutting down the chosen ones. Granted, the trees we found didn’t have that perfect shape or fullness as the trees grown in lots, but the natural look and the experience of having discovered and sawed down the tree yourself, up in the mountains, makes this the most special Christmas tree we’ve ever had. And it smells so good!
In the Fort Collins area, the cutting season was December 6 – 14. All you had to do wasget a $10 permit from your local National Forests office and be in the Red Feather cutting area no later than 2pm. They will kick you out by 4pm. The biggest challenge was to find spruce and fir trees since it seems to be mostly pine trees up there. But just park your car and start hiking… Happy Christmas Tree Cutting (next year)!
Here’s an article from the Coloradan how cutting down your own Christmas tree helps the planet.
The music in this video is a public domain recording of “O Tannebaum” by the US Marine Corpse Band – a bit sped up.
I’m wishing all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Cool Kwanza and/or awesome winter solstice pagan rites!
