Is there anything more picturesque than a rustic cabin nestled amid snow-kissed pines before a rushing mountain stream? How about all of the above plus a red-hot coed lounging around totally starkers?

If that sounds like every guy’s favorite recurring dream, it’s really just a day in the life of Clear Creek County. Well, one day, anyway. Two weeks ago, Friday, to be exact. But let’s not reveal too much, too quickly.

A few months ago, Evergreen residents Diane and Roger Turek purchased a cabin in Mill Creek Park, a superb bit of nowhere in the boondocks about three miles north of Dumont in Clear Creek County. Bounded by Arapahoe National Forest, the wooded property dips its mossy toes in 450 feet of chuckling brook – a fitting stage for the charming 1,300 square foot, two-bedroom, cedar-clad chalet thereon. “We’re absolutely in love with it,” Diane said. “We’re going to retire there, someday.”

Someday is not today, so when the Tureks aren’t enjoying their alpine hideaway, they offer it for rent over the internet.

“One of the bedrooms is a loft,” Diane said, “and it has a conversation pit – real après-ski, you know?” Early on, she and Roger discussed losing the architectural anachronism, but their friends wouldn’t hear of it. “It’s classic Colorado, isn’t it?”

Don’t worry, men, we’re getting there.

About three weeks ago, the Tureks were relaxing in their mountain redoubt, listening to Lewis and Floorwax on 103.5 FM and reflecting on the duo’s thoughtful analysis of the day’s events. On that day, the popular radio hosts were interviewing some college students of the female persuasion who’d been chosen to represent their particular institutions in Playboy magazine’s “Women of the Big 12” issue, presumably because of their academic excellence. Between asking the hard questions and congratulating the girls on their manifest virtues, the sober pair broadcast Playboy’s phone number and urged anyone who knew of a suitably Coloradan venue for the University of Colorado’s shoot to dial it without delay.

“You know what?” Diane asked her husband. “Nothing says Colorado like this place.”

She called the magazine and left a brief message including the web address where pictures of the Mill Creek Park estate could be viewed, and wasn’t especially surprised when nobody called back. Some days later, just to satisfy herself that she and Roger had been snubbed, she rang Playboy’s Chicago office again and was connected with the project’s art director.

“He said they’d be here on Friday.”

“They” were the art director, a photographer, a makeup artist, sundry union hacks and, of course, the exquisite centerpiece who would probably have to make up that day’s physics lab, or whatever, another time. According to Diane, the Playboy crew was pleased as punch with the location.

“They were giddy-happy,” she said. “In the pictures on the internet, everything’s dry, but it snowed the night before and the trees were all white.” Better still, the water in the stream out front was rimmed with shimmering, icy arabesques. “You could just picture Pete Coors standing next to it.”

The crew spent about seven hours capturing the young beauty as God made her, first in front of a roaring fire the couple built in the cabin’s stone fireplace, then outside amid nature’s naked grandeur.

“They pitched a tent by the creek and put a couple snowshoes in front of it,” Diane said. “It was supposed to look like a Colorado winter camp, and they took pictures of her lying on a blanket in front of the tent.”

What are the Boy Scouts not telling us?

The Tureks were able to uncover little information about the young scholar, other than that she attended CU in Boulder, was above-average gorgeous and seemed to know her way around a photo-shoot.

“She was very comfortable in her own skin, and completely comfortable with the camera,” Diane said. “I think she’s probably done some modeling on the side.”

That’s just conjecture, though, because the girl’s name, age, professional skills and field of study never came up.

“I got the feeling they didn’t want to give too much information about her, probably to protect her privacy.”

As opposed to her modesty.

Late in the afternoon, the little party stowed their gear, thanked the Tureks for the use of their charming forest realm and headed back down the canyon. Miss CU left with them, fully clothed.

“It was really interesting, and just a lot of fun,” Diane said. “And everything was done first-class – really tasteful.”

Though Roger was prudently unavailable for comment, it’s fair to suppose that he found the episode equally rewarding.