More Nederland, Colorado, in the Rocky Mountains

My first post about Nederland, Colorado, was last March. In it, I wrote mainly about the James Peak Brewery and the Frozen Dead Guy Days celebration every winter. In my second post about Ned, I featured the aptly-named Carousel of Happiness. I don’t know what it is about this little town, but I like to visit – so here’s a third post with some information to round out the picture I’ve painted so far.

Nederland (‘Ned’ to locals) is 17 miles west of, though steeply up from, Boulder and easily reached by car. It’s a very small town, about 1500 residents. Before incorporation in 1874, it had other names and was the place where ore from nearby tungsten, silver and gold mines was milled. The name? Long story short, local Dutch miners called the place Nederland (meaning ‘lowlands’) because it was about 2000 feet lower in elevation than the mine they were working.

Of course, the mining is long gone, and today Ned is a gateway to outdoor recreation areas, so it hosts skiers, hikers and such. You might remember it’s located on Barker Reservoir. It was wonderfully foggy on this visit:

And the water was very much lower than on the previous visit. Those rocks in the foreground in this picture are actually on the lake bed:

So here are some scenes from around this very small town. First, an interesting cafe constructed out of old circus train cars:

 

This cafe has Ned’s typical architecture:

This trail is listed as “an easy, 1-mile loop” around the lake:

The beautiful Middle Boulder Creek runs through town before it pools into the reservoir behind the dam:

A lovely covered bridge helps pedestrians cross the creek:

A Swiss yodeler, gardener and community advocate named Rob Schneider (no relation) who’d previously lived in Wisconsin instigated the upgrade of Ned’s town center, including this covered bridge. His plans to improve the town with shopping and amenities to attract more tourist dollars succeeded. The bridge was completed in the late 1980s. For a warm-hearted memorial article about Schneider, click here.

That’s it for my third post about Ned. I have the Frozen Dead Guy Days marked on my calendar, so maybe you’ll see more pics of that crazy event in a few months!

Photo for No Apparent Reason: