Camping in Colorado Summer 2011

We loaded up Carey's truck with the tent, air mattresses, picnic canopy, pack n play, cook box, towels, clothes, car seats, stroller, and various other camping paraphernalia, and 3 kids and 2 adults and set our sights for Colorado.

First stop, Palo Duro Canyon State Park on the Fourth of July. Great hiking. Great campsite. Even had a visit from a deer that let us feed it from our hands. 

  

Next stop, Mueller State Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This campsite was just to the west of Pike's Peak. Great sight ... except for the walk up hill to the bathroom, which was a bit difficult with the altitude sickness. Oh and the no fire ban because of the drought. Oh and also the bear that visited our campsite while we were off to see Pike's Peak. To which we were told to keep your food in your vehicle overnight and bang on a pot with a wooden spoon if you were to encounter one in person. !!!! Yeah, didn't sleep much that night.

  

Then off further west. We drove through the most beautiful part of the country I have ever seen. Mountains on both sides with waterfalls and streams ... gorgeous.

Our most favorite spot on this camping trip (and probably any trip we've ever taken) was at The Matterhorn National Forest Campground near Ouray, Colorado. We were surrounded by mountains on all sides and there was a stream not far from our campsite. The weather was perfect. The hiking was just right for the kids and we were able to see gorgeous scenery. Plus, no more altitude sickness, no bears and we got to have a campfire!!

We took a trip into Telluride one evening to eat. We were able to ride on the gondola. The kids loved it!

Another day we took a trip to Ouray and went swimming in the hot springs pool. That was really fun!

Juliet was filthy the entire time. She was not yet walking and crawled everywhere and played in the dirt, gravel, put rocks in her mouth. We would give her a bath in the totes we used to pack out camping stuff because she would get to slippery to hold in the shower. I'm sure the critters just loved her since most of her food ended up on the ground after meal time. She did love the hiking. She had a bird's eye view in the the hiking backpack.

It was a wonderful family camping trip that we will never forget. We were a bit anxious to get home and drove straight home without stopping from Ouray. We did get a little turned around when we stopped off at a rest stop just before the Texas border and ended up going back west for about 5 miles. It was when I noticed that there was "another" White Woman Creek that it dawned on us that we were going the wrong way. Pretty funny stuff.