Rocky Mountain Camping

It's been a long time since I went camping, and I don't think I've ever backpacked to a campsite. This trip on Friday was a big accomplishment. Ben has wanted to camp with me since I've known him. What better anniversary present for Ben than to suck up my discomfort and head to the mountains?


A long car drive up highway 40, past Winter Park, past Fraser, and we arrived at the trailhead. We'd been hiking for just 10 minutes in the above photos. Ben bought himself a hatchet for the trip. He liked it a lot. He carried most of the gear, I just had some clothes, a mat, and water.


This dog met us at the trailhead and followed us. There's a spot of private property about an hour in, where we ran into his owner. It was really fun having a dog on the hike. We named him Cody, even though he has four legs.


Hey, where's the bridge? My hero carried me across.


About two hours into the hike, above.


We were on "Strawberry Trail." At our campsite I helped myself to a snack and I'm not sick yet!


Our lovely campsite. There's a creek right behind the camera. We actually hiked about a 1/2 mile beyond this campsite before deciding to turn around and settle. It was flat, had a fire pit, and some lovely log chairs. Ben set up tent quickly and we settled in for the night.


Hey, we built a fire! High five!


Hmm, dinner.


Lovely sunset.


After a rough night trying to sleep (I just can't sleep outside. It's uncomfortable and scary) we packed up and hit the trail home by 10 am. These pictures are about halfway back to the trailhead. Boy, were we stiff that morning. We're still feeling achey a couple days later. But it was worth it. No rain, no injuries, few bugbites, and good memories.