It is difficult to make this anything of a letter. I have been riding for a whole week, seeing wonders and greatly enjoying the singular adventurousness and novelty of my tour, but ten hours or more daily spent in the saddle in this rarefied, intoxicating air, disposes one to sleep rather than to write in the evening, and is far from conducive to mental brilliancy. The observing faculties are developed, and the reflective lie dormant.
~ Isabella Bird, letter dated October 28, 1873
Larimer County, Colorado
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Nearly 150 years have passed since Isabella Bird explored the Colorado Territory on horseback. Having traveled much of the same ground myself in recent years, I’m happy to say that a great deal of the area’s wild beauty is still with us.
Isabella’s letters about her adventures are collected in the book A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains.
(Posts about my library are archived through this link: ridingwithcarl.wordpress.com/tag/library.)
Riding with Carl 