A View of Hardscrabble Creek

The real Hardscrabble Creek

Last summer, when we had some flooding on Hardscrabble Creek, I sent a video to a friend in England, who replied that he had assumed that “Hardscrabble Creek” was a literary invention.

Not so. I have a simple and literal mind, I will admit that.

The green trees are ponderosa pine. But are they the scopulorum variety or brachyptera? Since I consider myself a Southwesterner residing in the former imperial province of Nuevo México, I vote for the latter. (This map supports me.)

7 thoughts on “A View of Hardscrabble Creek

  1. Medeina Ragana

    Gorgeous! I envy your “backyard”. I have to travel up the Appalachian Trail or close by to get views like this.

  2. Cynthia Lepthien

    Wikipedia says Ponderosas smell like turpentine but I always thought they smell like vanilla. ummm.

  3. Pitch313

    I found a list of Fremont County, Colorado Creek names (because of your mention of some thinking it was a literary place name). “Hardscrabble” does strike me as one of those colorful and potentially symbolic place names that would turn up in a Western or about the West story or movie or TV show, more than many of the other creeks on the list.

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