Last Week in CO

After leaving Boulder we headed up to Fort Collins where we hung out in Poudre Canyon for a few days. We camped up on Pingree Park Road (free campsites) and there were some great views! We spent a day in town just catching up on some school work but then Will was  able to get out and boat a portion of the Poudre while I went for a run at Hewlett Gulch.

We spent another day hiking the Big South Fork of the Poudre.  Lots of wildflowers in this area. Will ran into some NC friends that were actually boating the river that day. We hiked in about 4 or 5 miles in hopes of seeing them but in line with the weather patterns of Colorado, a thunderstorm rolled in shortly after lunch so we quickly turned around and headed back to the car.

We spent a night in State Forest State Park which is famous for the moose that have been released in the area….despite all our searching, we never laid eyes on one.  We camped at the North Michigan campground inside the park which is one I would definitely recommend.

There are tons of 4-wheeling/off-road trails that we road our bikes/hiked on. They also have yurt trail systems for skiing/hiking/biking overnighters. Here are some shots/videos from the end of our ride just so you can get an idea of the scenery.

After our ride we drove into Steamboat and spent an afternoon at Strawberry hot springs. There were different pools with varying levels of heat. The upper ones were the hottest because they spring ran directly into them. There is a creek that runs alongside the pools so the bottom pool is freezing cold. We camped just out of town at meadows campground and since it got late we also decided to splurge on a meal out a Double Z BBQ- delicious food but HUGE portions. We were able to cook 2 more meals at camp with some of the leftovers.

We continued on to Frisco and Breckinridge from here. We spent an afternoon at the disc golf course in Frisco- a popular sport there. The course was packed and we waited several minutes at each hole to play, but the course was nice and the rain held off.

We had the bright idea to try and hike a 14er the following day. I did some research and according to the internet Quandry Peak is one of the least challenging. So that we could get an early start, we went up to Blue Lakes to camp and prep for the following day. There were a few free spots to camp on the road next to the trailhead.  

We woke up at 3am the following morning to head down and get started. Why so early? Well, all the forums advised the earlier the better because storms roll in in the early afternoon and the trail gets VERY crowded. We started our hike at about 3:45. We reached the tree line after the first mile and from here the hike was all scree fields. The elevation was definitely tougher than I expected and it was VERY steep. By 5:45am we had hiked 2.5 miles up to a knoll where we watched the sun come up over the mountain. There was still another a little less than a mile up to the top and another 800 feet of elevation to gain. We decided to swallow our pride and turn after some elevation sickness. We determined that we made it to 13,500 feet so we’ll take it for now. We were down the mountain by 8am but super exhausted.  Got some beta on some easier hikes for next time so we will definitely try again on our next trip.

After our excursion we headed over Cottonwood pass and camped just at the base of it near the Taylor River area. We spent the rest of the day resting, sleeping, and recovering. There was some great low key biking on all the off road trails in the area. We went for a longer ride in that area and explored a little more of the Taylor River.

Our next stop was Crested Butte. We camped just out of town on the Oh Be Joyful river. The camping was free but packed in. We enjoyed getting to know a few couples and families that camped next to us and were super grateful for their campfire! The mountain nights in Colorado get very chilly. Here are a few photos from our hike on Oh Be Joyful.

The next morning was rainy but we drove on into town and Will went for a bike ride and had some great wildflower sightings. I walked around town, went to their farmers market and then went for a walk towards Mt. Crested Butte.

We were feeling pretty dirty at this point and decided to spend one more night in the woods before cleaning up and heading home. We camped on a forest service road just outside of Buena Vista after checking for campsites at the base of Mount Princeton in the Chalk Mountains. Apparently you have to book a few weeks in advance to get one of these. Luckily we stumbled upon the forest service road where there were several pulloffs with fire rings. We enjoyed on last night of s’mores and went to bed around 10. The spot we were camping was at an intersection and right around 10:30 a car pulled up to our spot where a couple proceeded to get out and shout at each other/dig around in their car for about 10-15 minutes. After assessing the situation- and me being pretty scared- we quickly jumped in the car and drove into town to sleep. We came back the next morning to get the rest of our things and the car was still there. It looked like a family that was just living out of their car. Lesson learned on our part though- don’t park at an intersection spot to camp. We have camped at a spot similar to this one other time and the same thing happened. Not to be alarmed though....only one sketchy camping experience out of the month. 

We did enjoy our next day of recreating- Will boated and I went for a run.

From here we drove into Colorado Springs and prepared for the drive home. We ate an old elementary school for dinner that had been turned into a sandwich shop, coffee bar, brewery and bike shop. Check it out if you are ever in the area! http://ivywildschool.com/  We stayed at a cheap hotel that night so we could get a shower and a good nights sleep before driving. It's also pretty tough to find camp grounds other than KOA's (which are pretty pricey these days) in big cities. The semi luxury was nice...the breakfast the next morning was definitely sub par but luckily there was an awesome old school diner (Sandy's Restaurant) next door where we enjoyed a giant breakfast before hitting the road. 

It took us 2 days of what seemed like never ending driving to get back, but we finally made it home on Wednesday night just in time to see our sweet puppy!   

Durango and Boulder Round 2

We stayed in Durango through Wednesday afternoon and loved the town. It was relatively small compared to Boulder but so quaint and had lots to do. We had to spend a few days getting some work done on the car but were able to explore town via bikes. We found a pretty neat bookstore (Maria's Bookshop) and spent lots of time in there. We also ate at Carver's downtown where we were able to chat with lots of locals while we waited out a rainstorm about some pretty cool camping spots around the state.

Will also spent some time at the whitewater park one day while I went for a run through town. We were able to stay in Will's friend's backyard...it is amazing how we make connections through life. Will met a guy (Richard) boating in Brevard a few Christmas breaks ago. He lives in Durango but his wife went to Brevard college and his parents retired in Brevard. They were so gracious to let us hang out and stay with them for a few days. They also live in a great part of town that is only about a mile from the start of the Colorado trail and a great network of mountain biking trails. We went for a ride on Wednesday morning and had some great views.

On the way out on Wednesday we had planned to spend some time at Vallecito but the weather here has been pretty hit and miss. We got there just as a big thunderstorm was rolling in so we spend a little time at the local cafe planning our next activity/route.

We spent Wednesday night at Big Meadow. Golden rule campgrounds are interesting (the ones where you pay the little box on your way out for how many days you stay). They all have a campground host and generally we never see them....not a Big Meadow. Big Meadow Bob (the campground host) was there to greet us and follow us around as we chose a campsite. Bob checked in with us frequently throughout the evening :)

The next morning I had time to do some stand up paddle boarding around the lake right next to the campground. Definitely some great views.

We stopped in at Great Sand Dunes National Park on Thursday afternoon. The dunes were enormous and so neat to look at. We thought we would be adventurous and ride our bikes long the 4 wheel drive roads that went around the dunes instead of the hanging out at the beach with the other tourists. We got the bikes down and went about a mile down the road before we were completely eaten by mosquitoes (a miserable feeling when there are 3-5 on you at a time and you feel like there is nothing you can do to get them off). Needless to stay we quickly turned around after a photo!

From Big Meadow we headed back to Boulder to meet Margaret and Cornell. We enjoyed dinner with them on Thursday night at Efrain's.

On Friday we drove up to Mark's house for a visit (he definitely lives in an amazing part of the state) and then took the Peak to Peak highway to Estes Park for the day. The drive was beautiful with lots of big mountains and great views. Will did some play boating that afternoon at the Boulder Playpark while I went for a run up Boulder Canyon. They have a great trail (similar to a greenway) that is very populated with bikers, walker, and runners. It goes up the canyon a good ways and then down into town.

This is the hotel The Shining was filmed in located in Estes Park

Saturday we went for bike ride at Table Mesa near Golden, CO with Margaret. The weather was perfect and the view was gorgeous. It was a pretty steep climb about a mile up initially but then we had 6ish rolling miles that went along the side of the mountain for great views of Denver and Golden. We stopped at Eldorado Canyon for a quick hike and a picnic after our ride.

We had such a great time visiting with family on this last part of our trip! Thanks for feeding us and letting us tag along with you on your adventures!!!