Over the weekend, Christian and I went camping. It's the first time I've been camping, maybe since 2007, but it was so much fun!
We left on Friday morning and drove toward Carbondale, Colorado. We ended up camping at Avalanche Campground on Friday night. It was gorgeous and it was such a nice day. Even in the mountains, it was warm and sunny.
We went on a hike for about two hours, but the only trail near our campsite was a 10 mile hike to a lake, so we didn't go all the way, but there were still beautiful sights to be seen. Christian's dogs, Sasha and Zoey, loved being off the leash and running along the trail. Sasha especially loved lying in the muddier parts of the trail.
When we got back to the campsite, we started making dinner--macaroni and cheese. It wasn't too shabby for campfire food. We also had peanut butter cup s'mores for dessert.
Because another couple showed up with a dog just before dark, we decided to move to another campsite in the morning. There wasn't anything else to do at our campsite and Sasha wouldn't stop barking. We went on the most scenic drive, though. That area of Colorado is so pretty.
By lunch time, we had made it to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. My mom said I had been there before, but I don't remember it. What a sight to see! It was a little scary standing at the look out points because it was just a straight drop to the bottom. We boiled some water for soup and ate lunch looking out over the canyon.
We kept driving along the Gunnison River, looking for another place to camp. Since we were so far from home, Christian wanted to get a little closer so we wouldn't have a long drive on Sunday. When we went over Monarch Pass, we saw snow and white out conditions, but when we got to the bottom, it was mostly sunny again.
We ended up setting up camp along the Trout Creek near Salida at a place called Mushroom Gulch. It was a lot different terrain than the night before, but it was still a nice spot and a lot more secluded. Sasha and Zoey had a blast running all over the place and discovering the area around us.
Unfortunately since we got there so late (about 5:30), we didn't do much other than set up camp and make hot dogs for dinner. It was a lot cooler day on Saturday than it was on Friday, but it still wasn't too bad and it was comfortable at night in a down sleeping bag.
In the morning, we made oatmeal for breakfast again and then packed up camp to head home. We went the back way out of our campsite through a really cool area and then drove through Fairplay. On the way home, we were going to stop in Conifer to play disc golf and have lunch, but we decided to go home instead because it was windy and drizzling in the mountains still. After we got lunch, we took the dogs to the dog wash to clean them up and boy were they dirty!
It was a lot of fun and I definitely want to go again. We spent a lot of time in the car on Saturday, but we went by so many spots that would be great for our next camping trip.
