Change of Plans

Colorado scenery at its' best!  But weren't we supposed to be in Denver installing Jessi and Gary's new counter top instead of camping?  YES - but Jessi's had ordered new cabinets and as Glenn and I both know all too well, cabinets don't always arrive on time and are sometimes damaged - hence the case with Jessi and Gary...............we were disappointed we weren't heading to Denver but decided Thursday afternoon that we might as well go camping!

Thursday night we worked till LATE getting everything ready - we hadn't camped this year yet so the camper hadn't been cleaned or packed with the annual supplies and we had our work cut out for us!

But of course we managed to get it done, head out of work early and finish up packing on Friday and by 4:00 we were on our way!

We had planned on going somewhere close but that didn't happen - Teller County was still under a fire ban when we left and Buffalo Peaks was partially closed due to elk calving.  So we ended up heading over Monarch Pass and camping on Black Sage Pass.  We had found a neat campsite last year but it was taken - luckily it was available this year and we rolled in Friday night and got set up - boy that campfire was nice!!

Saturday morning we headed out to ATV with our picnic lunch!  It was cool out but the sun was shining and that's all that mattered!   We headed in the direction we wanted to go but then came to the stream which is usually a small stream - not this year!  With the snow melt off, the stream was now a small river crossing - we had no idea how deep it was and the current was so strong, we were scared to even attempt it - so it was turn around and come back the way we came in...........

Yes, that's snow you see in the above picture - and of course that was the trail we had to not only trudge through to get to the stream, but then turn around and come back through it!  The front of the ATV was caked with snow!

I had forgot to bring syrup or jelly for our french toast on Sunday morning so we went into the little town of Pitkin and stopped at the general store - always a fun stop as it's such a cute little town!

It was a nice relaxing evening with some great grilled charcoal hamburgers and marshmallows by the campfire!

Sunday morning we lingered over coffee and then packed up to head out for the day - but it wasn't to be - soon the storm clouds came rolling in all around us and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees - it was a race to get back to the camper and pack everything up before the rain came but we made it!  We've got that down to a science!  A great trip for our first camping trip of the season!