Labor Day/Taylor Pass

3 day weekends are always a luxury for us because that means we can camp and ATV for an extra day and night!  We actually closed down around noon on Friday and were headed over to Taylor Park by 2:00 - about a 2 1/2 hour drive away.

 

It's always a busy place over that way as there are so many trails to ride on but we easily found a nice camping spot that was off the main road and quickly set up camp!  Glenn started a campfire and soon we were relaxing around it with drinks and veggies and dip!  It was a gorgeous evening!!

 

Saturday morning we slept in - I mean really slept in!!  The sun seemed to be hiding behind the mountain and with our camper in the trees, we just slept and slept!!  Finally we were on the ATV and ready to attempt Taylor Pass - last year we had tried going up the pass but in one spot, the stream comes right down where you drive and the water was just too deep to navigate!  So Glenn was ready to try it again this year! 

 

It was rough - and treacherous - and rocky - and bone jarring!!  It was the hardest pass we have ever been on and I had a tough time just trying to hang on!  I had forgotten how rocky it was, just getting up to the part where the water was - and this year the water wasn't as high but it was tough driving through on those slick rocks!

 

Once you make it out of the water, there's an extremely steep, rocky place you have to climb out and I immediately got off and walked it while Glenn navigated the ATV up out of that place.  I ended up getting off the ATV to walk at least 3 times that morning because it was so steep and rocky!  Boy was I glad to get to the top!!

The views at the top were beautiful!!  We stopped at one of the "huts" that are available through the forest service - it's a neat log cabin fully furnished and that one WOULD be fun to stay in some time!  Glenn and I reminisced about the time we went camping up there with Jessi and he pulled up to the hut in the dark and had a really hard time getting turned around to get out of there!!

We had lunch at the top and enjoyed the fantastic views! Glenn always carries his binoculars to see if he can see any elk.

The little road you can see at the bottom of the canyon is the road into Aspen!  It's amazing how these trails wind around and up and down the  mountains!!

It was a LONG hard trip down the mountain - I always think that going down is much harder than climbing up on the ATV!  By this time my whole body was aching from trying to hold on and bouncing around - we couldn't wait to get down and it seemed to take forever!!!  We were almost to the bottom of the pass when it started to rain - Glenn had his rain suit to put on and I put on one of the disposable ponchos but of course it didn't cover my legs and shoes so I was pretty wet by the time we got back to camp!

I put my tennis shoes by the fire to dry out - and I must have put them too close because the inside buckled up and it sure felt weird wearing them the next day!

We were both stiff and sore after that long day and a hot tub would have felt good that night - but we sure didn't find one out in the wilderness.

The evening was spent by the campfire - roasting marshmallows, reading and just enjoying the calm and the quiet.............