Camping, take two
July 5th, 2009 by robfelty
The whole gang at Mt. Evans
Last weekend we went camping for the second time, this time with Dave and Ellen, who were visiting. Our second camping attempt was successful. Dave, Ellen, Spencer, and I left Friday afternoon to get a campsite at Echo Lake. There was a big storm around 2 p.m., which was when we were planning to leave. We decided to wait until it was over. Sure enough, by 3 p.m. or so the clouds were lifting, so we headed up to Echo Lake, which is about a 45 minute drive from our house.
The highest road in the country
When we got up there, the weather was quite nice, and it looked pretty dry, even though other campers told us that it had rained. Spencer fell asleep about half-way there, and continued to sleep for several hours while we set up camp. Clare arrived around 7 p.m., and we were just starting to make dinner. We made spaghetti, which turned out very nicely. We used some sauce from a jar, and added some textured vegetable protein and spices. I also brought a jar of fancy olives I had recently bought on close-out. After dinner we made s’mores and enjoyed the campfire, then turned in around 9 p.m. or so. Spencer had already fallen asleep, but then woke up when we got in the tent. I was able to get him back to sleep with some rocking and shushing. Spencer seemed to be warm enough snuggled between Clare and me, though all of the adults reported being a bit cold. But we made it through the night ok, and got some sleep to boot.
After some breakfast of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and french press coffee we drove up to Mt. Evans, which is the highest paved road in the country, at 14,000 feet. There were only a few clouds, and the view was fantastic. We stopped a few places on the way down, then went to the Echo Lake Lodge for lunch, which had some pretty tasty food. After lunch we fed and changed Spencer, then Dave, Ellen, Spencer, and I hiked around Echo Lake while Clare took a little nap. Since none of us had slept that well the night before, we decided to head home after dinner. For dinner I made my famous rice and beans on the campfire, which turned out really well. I usually end up burning the bottom a bit, but this time it got cooked perfectly, and I remembered the bring the Frank’s Red Hot. After another round of S’mores we put out the fire and left around 7:30. We’re looking forward to exploring more of Colorado in this fashion.
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- Ellen enjoys a S’more
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- The perfect S’more
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- Ellen at Echo Lake
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- Echo lake with mountains in the background (10,000 feet)
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- Echo lake trail
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- Clare and Spencer playing at the campground
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- Cool trees by the nature center
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- Views from the nature center
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- Ellen and Dave at the nature center
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- Mountain goats
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- More cool clouds at Summit Lake
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- Clare at Summit Lake
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- More of summit lake
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- Ice flows at summit lake
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- Ice and water in Summit lake
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- Dave at summit lake with cool clouds behind him
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- Snow-covered mountains
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- Clare at summit lake with mountains in back
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- Cool cloud formations
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- Rob at summit lake
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- Clare in front of summit lake
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- Summit lake and mountains
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- Summit lake was still largely frozen over
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- Blue sky at summit lake
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- Summit Lake (around 12-13,000 feet)
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- One more view from Mt. Evans
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- More views from Mt. Evans
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- Views from Mt. Evans
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- More views from Mt. Evans
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- Remains of the old restaurant at the summit
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- The view from Mt. Evans is spectacular
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- Ellen, Dave, and Clare at the summit of Mt. Evans
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- Spencer checks out a spruce needle
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- Dave shows Spencer what trees feel like
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- Ellen holding Spencer
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- PB&J for breakfast with jam from Angie Fender
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- It was pretty chilly
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- Hanging out Saturday morning
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- The new Coleman stove
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- Clare and Rob’s tent
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- Dave and Ellen’s tent
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- Campfire
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- Rob feeding Spencer
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- Clare feeding Spencer
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- Spencer the bunny
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