Camping in Colorado
As you might know my family prefers to stay out of Houston over the summer. As the school gets into summer vacation for our kids, we typically take two or three weeks off and go somewhere out of town. This year we decided to do something different. Since my wife works remotely, it doesn't matter where she works from, and she always wanted to spend an extended summer in high elevation Colorado. So we decided to rent a house in Winter Park, Colorado, and about 9000 ft, for a month and my wife and kids stayed there for the whole month. I did a bit of weekend fly-in back and forth, because I had some work in town in Houston and I also wanted some kid free time (wink, wink!)
However, during the 4th of July week, I stayed there for the whole week and we decided to go camping with the family. Lately we haven't been camping that much, in fact last time we camped was during 2022-23 in the middle of Covid. It is always a good idea to keep some bag-nights under our belts!
The place we chose, is near Walden Colorado, Ranger Lake Campground. That is a part of Colorado that even in the height of summer travel season remains less crowded. It is part of the State Forest State Park on either side of US highway 14, between Walden and Fort Collins, CO.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FXBRyZEc6w9Exkx68
The state park has a nice visitor center, not far from the Ranger Lakes, shown above, and it is a peaceful quiet place. They have stock the lakes with Cutthroat Trouts. Trouble is, we didn't bring fishing gear and the place was remote enough to rent fishing rods on demand, a big opportunity missed. Fishing will have to wait for the next trip.
The campground itself is on the northern bank of Michigan River. This area was affected by recent forest fires about 10 years back and you can see the evidence in the new vegetation and burnt trees that are still visible near the campgrounds and up on the hills.
There are trails all around the lakes, and Lake Agnes trail that originates from the next campground called Crags.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/xpbTfPhf9DDFvK1BA
There are many other hiking trails to choose from in the area and one can spend days hiking while keeping a base camp at either Ranger Lakes or Crags campground. The most impressive thing that I remember is the night sky though.
Since the area is so far from the city light and very sparsely populated there was no light pollution. I didn't have any good camera. This picture of Milky Way, is just my iPhone on long exposure, set on the campground picnic table at wide angle. I don't know about you, but I can print this picture at 20*30 inches and can get reasonable result. I was lucky that moon was setting right past midnight during that week and it was perfectly clear sky. I will remember this night sky for a long time.
Milky way photo!! Way better than anything I have ever got!!
We have always planned a bit of camping but the wife always chickens out and insists on renting. Lol. Love the look of the place
Yeah, my fav!
You know even when I went to Ladakh in India, I didn't catch Milky Way like this one.
Yeah it's all about them clear skies. I have been itching to get a shot of it especially with the astral mode on the phone I have but every time I get a chance in a dark sky area it's bloody cloudy! I would be super chuffed if I got a shot as good as that!
It is amazing what you can do with your phone cameras these days.
That Milky Way photo!!! Wow.
It looks like a wonderful trip, cool in the mountains. Years ago my husband competed in a pool tournament in Colorado Springs. What a trip that was. I poked around on my own and found out so much about Colorado--Colorado Springs in particular. It used to be a refuge for people suffering from TB. Colorado State University dorms actually housed patients, many many years ago. And the luxurious Broodmoor Hotel was a Sanatorium for TB patients. I wonder how many of the guests who go there know that?
Also, the mining history of the area. We visited Leadville--traveled a treacherous mountain road to get there. I don't recommend that detour if anyone in your family does not like riding along cliffs. I screamed all the way :))
I know, but that is only because I used to take students their for geological field trips. University of Okhahoma's field camp was based out of Canon City :)
I am glad you like the Milky Way photo. The reality was much much better than the photograph.
Leadville is the highest airport in the United States. Did you know that?
NTSB/FAA I think had a nice video from the 60s, when the idea was soon most people will have personal airplane. That dream never became reality. Let me see if I can find the video, you will like it.
I loved it! Thought I would hate it, because it reminded me of the instructional videos they used to show us in school. The acting was funny, but the subject actually fascinating. I understand a lot more about the dynamics of flying than I did before.
I did know that Leadville was the highest city in the U.S., but I didn't know it had an airport. We drove in on the worst road imaginable. Flying would have been so much nicer :))
Really? If only. My husband and I don't fly anymore because we can't handle the stress. Air travel is horrible now. Checking out trains with suites. Maybe that's a better way to go.
It’s not the highest city, but the highest airport. I mean there were higher towns, settlements, Leadville is not much of a city right? But definitely the highest airport!
I thought you will like the video. It has certain nostalgia attached to it. They don’t make it like that anymore.
Did you see monument valley, it was different back then :)
I “was” a single engine pilot, before my younger daughter was born. Perhaps some day I pick it up again at retirement!
Loving the day time views and what you can see at night. Hope yall had a good time camping and enjoying the pond there.
I have seen the sky like that once staying in a hunting camp deep in Georgia. I got out my tent to pee in the middle of the night and saw the sky.. it looked like that. Was amazing.. never seen it so good since.
Thank you Solo. By the way, this is the lake I was talking about in your post.
Colorado is amazing! My uncle (rest in peace) had a house at 7000 elevation in a town called Ridgeway on the Western Slope of Colorado. It was about an hour or so from Telluride. We would go up there as a family and stay for a week or so during the summer. That was many many years ago. Now I live in Phoenix, it would have been nice to have that house to visit when it was a million degrees out lol.
I have been to both Ridgeway and Telluride, both very cool places
I know right?? If I had the money I would definitely own a mountain house in one of those places haha, or Durango.
Wow! Stunning! The night sky, just wow! No fancy gear needed when the Milky Way puts on a show like that.
Thank you. I enjoy a good dark clear night sky.
You're welcome! It's always a wonderful sight to enjoy.🤗
Never gone in camping, do you guys cook there as well ? or just take some ready to eat food ? And stay for one night only ?
Yes we do :)
Let me see if I can find a picture
Most campgrounds here have a fire pit. Unless there is a fire ban ( rare) in effect you can make a fire and cook anything you want
Wow, that must be an awesome experience.
You can stay as long as you want. We stayed for 2 nights.
I've always loved Colorado for all its great mountains and landscapes, but well, it's difficult for me to get to know it all. However, my wife did have the opportunity last year to visit parts of Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada where she was staying.
That is excellent. No such place like American west!
Wow. What a beautiful milky way. Looks like you had an amazing time camping. Love it.
Yes, it is nicely visible when we get good dark sky away from city lights.
I love these photos you share. They project peace and tranquility
Thank you. I love them too.
Wow what a pretty night picture!
Earth has so many pretty places to enjoy, thanks for sharing!
Yes, indeed it’s a pretty place.
That's awesome. We really enjoyed our time in Colorado last summer even though we spent a lot of it at the softball fields. That campground looks amazing! We do a lot of camping in the summer as well, but we upgraded from tents quite a few years ago.
I want the upgrade!
But my wife tells me that the kids must build “the character”
Oh, I totally agree, you need to earn your stripes. There are things we miss about tenting from time to time.
Trouble is while they "earn the stripes" my lower back will likely kill me :) :)
Haha yes, I hear that!
Renting a house at 2700 meters sounds quite nice. I've spent a night camping at 2200 meters before, and it was quite enjoyable. High pressure reduces the amount of oxygen in the air. This could be detrimental to someone unaccustomed to it.
My campsite was away from city lights, so the sky was magnificent.
Your campsite looks great. Weren't there any wild animals like bears? Bears will come near the area if they smell food.
There are black bears in the area, but I haven't seen any.
Spectacular experience 👌 the photo of the girl looking at the lake is great. I liked it a lot. It evokes a very nice tranquility.
Thank you. I felt so as well.
Wow renting a house for the summer it's really a great idea and Colorado seems an amazing place full of nature!!!😍😍
I wish I can rent a house in Tuscany or somewhere in the Dolomites for the summer.
The night sky far from the cities is impressive. I couldn't take my eyes off the night sky when I arrived in a remote village, there were many worlds looking at me that night.
Yes, I live in the city and it is not possible to see night sky from here. Although this is where NASA is :)
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Hi, this is a reminder for me later bcs rn i'm at the fitness but wanted to ask a question
so ask the question
🥸 no time to finish back exercices
You have been wipping rewards of quite a lot of people, so i was wondering what are your standars for these removals ?
Like there was a few german users that were doing giveaway posts every day but you had to gues something do you downvotes these because you dont like the content, because you think it is a explotation of the reward pool ?
Testing if they only post for rewards ?
Just curious
He does it because he doesn't like me and some other people. We both play Splinterlands and we often have opposing views and we've discussed them on Discord. I was never rude. Yet, he took revenge on my posts. He also says he doesn't like battle posts (which are the bread and butter of Splinterlands posts) but many people like them. The last one he nuked is an amazing creator that did daily giveaways by cracking open a yu-gi-oh pack and having people guess the value. He also doesn't like those. He has done this to many others, many of which are German. Alexvan is another one of his victims.
exploitation of reward pool
also this last one I came across was into Blurt, and I hate Blurt people.
Make sense
Winter Park sounds amazing! 🏔️ High elevation training for the horses, perhaps? 😉
Winter park is just a ski town.
Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2638.
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Looking at the pictures you shared, it seems like a piece of heaven on earth. I really enjoyed seeing this. Your way of explaining is very nice.