Colorado State Forest, State Park, CO

​Well, off I went out of the Poudre Canyon, where there were plenty of beautiful views along the highway, more of the river, and more of the narrow canyon. I was up early enough to enjoy the highway to myself. There was a tunnel carved out of the rock wall at 14 feet tall. Thankfully I made it through there. I stopped briefly to stretch our legs at a reservoir where others were preparing their fishing gear. I thought I would reach the town of Walden, which was the next stop for gas but there was a visitor center just as I entered the Colorado State Park area. This area is still very close by and within view of the Rocky Mountains. I thought I would check for camping. The Ranger initially said there’s usually nothing open at last moment but she was nice enough to check the system for me and did find one spot which was at the tail end of this park, approximately 15 miles away. She said it’s down a 9 mile dirt road. I did ask about the condition, as a 9 mile washboard road, is not the kind of fun I wanted. She assured me that it was passable. I really enjoyed the slow go on this mostly graded road, also passing another reservoir and in areas that had aspen, with some burned out sections, and some young pine trees. I was getting pretty excited thinking I would be nestled in between one of these really pretty areas filled with wildflowers surrounded by fields. I could tell I was reaching the end of the road, and when I entered this area it looked more like a tundra, open, with no trees whatsoever. It’s also a horse corral, so the campsites are very tightly placed around a large circular drive. I got out and met my neighbor. He had been there the night before and said there was a lot of construction noise pointing over to a very large dirt mount. It’s a Saturday so there was no construction noise, however it was very odd to see this baron rock and dirt pile. He speculates that the private property there wants to create a barrier from the noise or the view of the state campsite. The whole thing was not very pretty. After lunch I decided to take a hike knowing how warm it was getting. I got out my sunscreen shirt and completely soaked it, with water, along with my neck scarf and did the same for Jo Jo’s harness. I grabbed my big brim hat, used sunscreen, and we were off to do a hike, even if it was only for 10 minutes. Fortunately the trail head was within just a couple hundred feet from of my campsite. I was hoping I would encounter more shade, but such was not the case. That figures. I made Jo Jo walk behind me and before I knew it, I was 30 minutes in. At that point we stopped to have more water and I decided to head back. I carried Jo Jo in the kangaroo pouch, as he certainly looked hot and tired, as I did. I got back with about 50 minutes, which was longer that I thought that I would last. For being at 8600 feet elevation, it felt like a day in Phoenix, in the summer. Hot. I certainly wanted to jump in a river somewhere to cool down, but the shower did help. The campsite was fairly quiet, up until the 4 PM when the generator started up. My absolute all-time hated thing in a campsite. I tolerated it as I read my book, and tried to put my mind elsewhere. That’s not always an easy thing for me to do. These generators are just a drone noise that is like a mosquito in your ear that never stops. Eventually they turned it off after about three hours. I couldn’t help myself and let out a woot-hoot cheer, at the same time.












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