Meuller-Lake View to Winding River Resort

Grand Lake, CO at the Winding River Resort, Monday-Tuesday, June 11-12, Day 27-28
A Moose on the Loose and Larry from WA now living in Denver

As we were backing Moby into our assigned site, a moose rose indignantly from the bushes and ambled away. "Grab the camera Maw, we gotta live one on our hands". Later, after the excitement, we were introduced to Moose, wife, and kid by Larry our camp neighbor. Our campsite is surrounded by young Aspens which are pure tender greens to Moose. Larry is a 75 year old who just lost his wife and is spending time in his favorite spots across Colorado in his new smaller camper. He tells us he used to work for Boeing in Renton WA where Helen grew up. Helen says he's legit because he pronounces Boeing with an "s" Boeings the way all the locals say it. Larry said the Moose family "adopted him" several days ago. I asked the camp manager is we have to pay extra for the Moose.

We are located just inside the entrance to the Rocky Mountain National Park. We're staying for four days and plan to drive through the park Wednesday. On the other side in Estes Park we are having lunch with Helen's friend Betty Meyer. Betty and her husband Kent, lived in Haywood County in the 80's when Kent was director of Camp Hope (YMCA). He is now CEO of YMCA of the Rockies.

Leadville, CO and Lake View National Forest Campground, Sunday, June 10, Day 26
Walking uphill, rather up mountain, too much altitude, and trailblazers

Late in the morning we headed up Mt. Elbert, the highest mountain in CO, and the second highest in the US.
We really didn't expect to make it to the top although the camp host said it was a moderate hike about 4 hours long. We walked for about 3 hours, passing through highland meadows and fantastic scenic overlooks. Once an ATV with a couple on the back passed us and waved. We crawled smugly onward and upward. At about 12,000 feet I got so dizzy we stopped for lunch and headed back. (P) We were told earlier by many people to "listen to your body". I was listening real good. Walking slowly up a moderate grade had us gasping and panting for air at times. Often we walked 50 paces, stopped and checked our heart rates. I've never felt like this before. We carried at least five 20oz bottles of water and drank all of them that day… and never once did we perspire. On our return to the trailhead we met some young folks doing work on the Great Divide Trail. They were lugging around big rocks in some kind of sling carried by four guys. It hurt my back remembering what I was doing before we started our adventure.(P)
After we arrived back at camp we sat in the breeze and read our books.

Leadville, CO and Lake View National Forest Campground, Sat. June 9 Day 25
Coffee shop, new fleece, and a train ride

Today we ventured into Leadville for brunch and a train ride on the Colorado, Leadville Southern Railroad. Before the trip at 1pm we had a great brunch and I bought a fleece from MELANZANA, local store on main street where the fleece shirts are actually made. We could see the sewing machines behind the counter.

(P)The train ride lasted about 3 hours. We sat in an open car wearing number 50 plus sunscreen. They took us up to almost 12,000 feet to let us experience freezing to death at that altitude. That's what the earlier fleece purchase was all about. (P) We traveled into patches of snow up to the timberline. (P) Chuck, you would really enjoy this type of countryside because the ATV trails were all over the place and you can see forever. Most of the travelers were families and one child kept his hands over his ears for the entire trip. The train horn was pretty loud. (P) Approaching to the station, we asked the lady conductor where the coin op laundry was located in town. We were about a thousand feet above Leadville so she simply pointed to the Safeway Supermarket easily visible at that distance and said, "In that building to the left with the green roof." After we disembarked we drove there, and so it was.
Tomorrow we walk…uphill

Between Buena Vista and Leadville, CO at Lake View National Forest Campground, Fri June 8, Day 24

We decided to play it loose for a while and try a National Forest campground. This means no amenities just vault toilets. The great thing is you don't have to flush vault toilets. Yes, they are fancy out houses. Moby can stand alone with internal water and battery for almost 4 days if you're careful with the water. We use our headlamps at night to read by. It's really cool, windy and dry during the nights. The campground is almost empty. We're really getting spoiled and the views out the back window are stunning. (P)

Woodland Park, CO-Mueller State Park, Thursday June 7, Day 23

A walk in the woods and freezing young'erns

8am…Radio News Flash. There is a "chain law" (tire chains required) in effect this morning for Loveland Pass due to snow and icing overnight. I'm not even glancing out the window. The heater kept us warm and snug. It's very breezy outside but we're heading for the woods. (P)

The first day we arrived a young woman named Laura from San Antonio TX walked up and introduced herself. She just graduated from high school and is traveling across country with a friend. The wind was blowing and snow was falling. She was wearing a tank top and shorts. We welcomed her next to the fire we had just built and asked her if she was cold. She shrugged and said that she didn't want to get her cloths smoky from campfires. She hopped from one foot to the other, hugging herself, in front of the fire and told us she was going to Washington Univ in Saint Louis in the fall. Oh well…people travel in many ways.(p)

We had a great hike. It was chilly at time.

Woodland Park, CO- Mueller State Park Wed, June 6 day 22

High Winds in the Caribbean or Batten down the hatches on your Poop Deck:

It's 8:30 pm as I write. The temperature outside the camper is 42 degrees and falling. The wind is howling at 20 to 35 mph. Every once in a while we rock back and forth and the little camper furnace comes on. The sun is long down but there is still some light. Helen is peeping out the window again and says it snowing so hard on the Pikes Peek that you can't see the summit. The weather radio says there is a chance of snow above 10,000 feet. We've learned today that Mueller is at 9,000. Well, this is a far cry from getting sunburned a few days ago in 90-degree heat. I've had a terrible headache today and learned earlier that we're both suffering from mild altitude sickness. Other symptoms include shortness of breath, memory loss, confusion and frequent urination. Well hell, that's what's been wrong with me all these years. Altitude sickness! The ranger said to drink lots of water and take an aspirin to thin the blood…and no alcohol. Think I'd rather have the sickness. It's time to say good night.

Earlier:
When the going gets tough the tough go to the movies. We drove into Woodland Park and had brunch at a great little deli and coffee house that had wireless and humongous, totally forbidden cinnamon buns. Woodland Park is a growing upscale, mountain sports/recreation community. Property is expensive. Here we uploaded our latest blog entry and checked e-mail. We talked at some length to Chuck Cunningham originally from Kansas, has property in Twisp Washington, has built an office in Eureka Sprints where we did our laundry in Arkansas, and now lives in Woodland Park currently building a new hospital. When he was younger, with long hair, he road into town, (35 years ago) on a Harley before the roads were paved, and stopped for coffee. Two big guys approached his table and said, "We don't want your kind in this town." He told them that "I had planned to camp at Mueller state park but now I'm going to use your city park instead". He bought some land and dug in. He likes to hunt, fish, ski and considers himself pretty high on the food chain except when it comes to ants. Hay, I say, I can tell you all about ants . He described himself as "vertically challenged", when he stood he was at least 6-4. Chuck gave us good leads on National Forest Campgrounds that operate outside the state park system and cost half the price. With our golden age pass our cost is half of that. We're finding the CO park reserve system a little too structured for us because it's necessary to make reservations over the Internet 3 days in advance for no less than 2 nights. Aaaaagh!!! There's that Internet again!!! Besides we don't know where we're going to be in 3 days. Later we inspected a National Forest campground a little bit out of town and found it more like the camping style in our own mountains. We happened upon a National Forest Camp ranger who was very helpful and highly recommended the NF campgrounds. He said that he supervises another camp at 9,500 feet but did not recommend that we try to take our camper there because the roads were too rough and steep. Not for him to worry. He was pretty laid back having a ponytail and one earring. I liked his style. Around here one can start out with hot showers but end up hanging your tent off the side of a cliff with everyone's blessing. I'll forgo the hot shower for a piece of flat land.

We really enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean. It played in a small but very nice all wood rustic theatre with excellent popcorn, 6 kids, bedraggled Mom, two snooty teenagers and of course the pair of us. After the movie we filled one of our propane tanks taking no chances against tonight's storm predictions. We paid for an extra night so tomorrow we plan to hike some trails if this wind hasn't blown our hind ends off this small piece of flat.

We forgot the post office today. Ashley, your check is almost in the mail.