Father’s Day Camping Trip

We went on our first camping trip of the summer . . . it wasn’t a typical camping trip for us - we didn’t do any hiking! But we did get a lot of fishing in, searched for a few geocaches, and saw a bunch of stuff we hadn’t seen because we went to a part of Colorado we hadn’t been to in the 14 years we’ve lived here. Our trip started with a flat tire on the Highlander about 2 1/2 hours into our almost 4 hour drive. We were in the Pizza Hut parking lot changing the tire - we unhooked the popup, but didn’t lock the raise wheel in place before Hubby started cranking to get it off the hitch. WHAM! The trailer fell to the ground. Nice. Luckily, one of the kids from Pizza Hut came out and helped us lift up the trailer so we could put the wheel down and lock it this time A couple hours later we had the tire changed, got the flat one fixed, and were on our way. Then we got to see and do all this . . .

Hartman Rocks Recreation Area. You really need an ATV for this area, but we still had fun driving around in the Highlander. There is a TON of worthless land, so they let the ATVers and bikers use it for fun. It goes on forever! Pretty cool view.

 

I baked myself on some rocks like a gecko while the kiddos ran down the trail to climb on those way cooler looking rocks down away from parents.

 

We tried to find some geocaches . . . we couldn’t find this one, but Dude had a blast climbing on all the rocks while we searched! Did you know that a WWII B52 crashed in the mountains near Gunnison, CO? Me neither. We definitely need to go back and hike up to the crash site!

 

Our campground was in Taylor Canyon. We drove up the canyon to the Reservoir in search of another geocache. This was the view from where the cache was

 

Further up the road from the reservoir, way up on 4-wheel drive forest service roads, is Mirror Lake. We headed up there to do some fishing. Hubby and the kiddos fished while I hung out and enjoyed the absolute peace, quiet, and beauty of the mountains. That little bit of snow up there continues to melt and create this fun waterfall that ends up in Mirror Lake. I could’ve sat and listened to it forever!

 

On the way to the great awesome out-of-the-way fishing lake is a tiny ”town” called Tin Cup. It’s so cute and little and old and wonderful! Bill works here . . . and I’m pretty sure Bill knows EVERYTHING that goes on in and around Tin Cup I could totally live here - at least part of the year.

 

This little cabin is for sale in Tin Cup. I LOVE it. And want to buy it. Except it costs $175,000. For 1,000 square feet. And no yard - just the space the cabin and propane tank sit on. And it’s seasonal. When it snows too much to drive up there, you can’t go. I can’t afford that

 

Did you know there’s a place in CO called Black Canyon? I didn’t. It’s BEAUTIFUL and huge and big and fun. Dude thought it would be fun to “climb” out of the canyon.

 

 Of course Princess wanted to go on a climbing adventure as well.

 

This place is like a mini Grand Canyon in our own backyard! And like the Grand Canyon, pictures do not do it justice. You have to actually be there. We drove down the canyon to the water so the kids could work on their Junior Ranger badges. Had we known, we would have arrived at the park way early in the day and hiked down there. OK, I would have - and Hubby would have - the kiddos might’ve been a bit mad about that since it was around 95 degrees out.

 

The fam near the edge with the canyon in the background. I could’ve stared at it forever!

 

There’s a nature trail at the end of the south rim road around the canyon. We weren’t up for a long hike - it was hot and getting late and we were tired. But we did find this awesome spot with this great view! Telluride is way out there in those mountains somewhere.

 

This is what you get when your brand new Junior Rangers take the camera exploring at the campground.

 

This is what you get when you send the kids out to gather some kindling. Apparently, they thought there would be kindling way at the top of the rocks behind out campsite. Certain death if they had fallen off the edge. At least they got a good shot of the new-to-us popup that we absolutely loved! So much easier than the other one - we downsized and upgraded . . . we love it! The kiddos were bummed our campsite didn’t have a tent pad. They wanted to sleep in the new tent while we slept in the popup. I was glad there wasn’t a tent pad - it made it easy for me to say “no” to the tent sleeping. The first thing the campground host said when we pulled in was that they have a bear, and they’ve seen it quite a few times. It’s just a little guy, but he’s out there wandering around. Um, nope - not gonna leave the kids in the tent alone if there’s a bear cub wandering around eating things And if there’s a popup, I’m not sleeping in the tent.

 

I’m not sure what my Junior Ranger Princess is doing . . . but she and Dude were gone looking for kindling for a long time! I’m glad they took my camera with them

 

On our way home, we headed back to Tin Cup to fish in the kids’ fishing pond. There were SO many fish in there - and the water was completely clear. The kiddos didn’t even have to watch their bobbers . . . they would just watch the fish swim to the worm and then set the hook when the fish took a bite

 

Princess was a riot. She’d drag a worm out of the bait container, play with it, kiss it, put it on her hook, and catch a fish. She had a blast! Too bad we didn’t have anywhere to put the fish for our drive home . . . it was a catch and release day for us.

 

Teamwork to get the fish off the hook . . . there was no helping allowed by the big people!

 

After eating lunch at Frenchy’s Cafe right next to the kid pond, we headed home. We drove the unpaved narrow curvy forest service road over Cottonwood Pass . . . which is right on the Continental Divide. There were so many awesome views . . . and if we weren’t totally pooped and needing to get home, we would have gotten out and done some hiking.

We did drive through a number of campgrounds on our way home and mark down our favorite spots. We didn’t get to do nearly as much as we discovered we could do in that area of the state, so we’ll definitely be going back. We had a great time, and the kiddos absolutely loved actually catching fish for a change But next time, we’ll have to get out on the trails a bit more and check out some more of the back country

How about you? Did you have a good Father’s Day?