On Wednesday afternoon we got in touch with a neighbor who used to live across the street from me in chicago. She now lives in denver and agreed to meet us in Boulder for dinner. Found a place to camp for the night just outside of Boulder, so we setup there and got dressed for dinner before driving back down the mountain into town.
Outskirts of boulder up a steep but paved road
Met up at a fancy pizza place named Pizzeria Locale. Only decent pizza but great to catch up with an old neighbor. Headed back to the campsite before dark.
Woke up on Thursday to some howling winds. Luckily the trailer was parked into the wind, so it wasn’t shaking too much. Enjoyed a warm breakfast, sitting in the lee of the trailer, before packing up. Drove northwest towards estes park, stopping along the way at a few forest service campgrounds to find a water spigot to fill our tank. $20 for a site with no amenities, no thanks! Noticed a pine tree had blown down blocking part of the exit road at the campground, but luckily our small trailer could make it out. Mental note made to avoid parking directly under a tree in these 50 mph gusts.
No luck on the water, but were successful in finding a nice campsite on top of a hill with great scenery. Friendly guy running an atv business gave us some advice on good spots. Driving around on mountain dirt roads can be a nerve-racking operation. Large rocks, ruts and steep inclines are not easy while pulling a trailer, so any local guidance to a good spot quickly is much appreciated.
We ate some lunch before throwing on a backpack to hike some trails around the area. Snow showers and strong winds had us bundled up in many layers. A dirt road would take us back to an earlier campground and looked like a decent distance. Took a short break at the campground to eat a snack and talk with the campground host who gave us some info on upcoming destinations. Hiked back along the highway towards our campsite and definitely got our workout for the day!
Mr. Moose chomping on a mid-day snack
A river runs through it
We made it back!
Peney was happy to see us after a 5 hour hike
Cold beer tasted great after our hike, then a delicious dinner before movie time and drifting off to sleep during the middle of it. Real windy conditions most of the night keeping both of us up at times when it shook the trailer. Parked perpendicular to the wind tonight to try avoiding possibility of a tree falling on us.
Forecast has the winds slowly subsiding into the weekend. Continuing tomorrow towards estes park and rocky mountain national park.
Hard to believe it has been a year since I left CSX..
Chris, Cindy, Charlie and Cecily’s Adventure Blog 