July 2020 - Colorado National Forests

Central Colorado - Gunnison National Forest & Pike National Forest

Independence Day weekend was bound to be busy wherever we went, but we tried to pick somewhere far away from any big cities. We found a great site near Almont, Co, in Gunnison National Forest. It was about an hour from the nearest gas station, but just a short drive past Taylor Park Reservoir. We parked on a small loop road that ran along a beautiful clear stream, near "Pothole Reservoir #2". There were a few other campers on that road, but nobody too close. We spent most of our time sitting by the water or fishing.

There were trout in the "front yard" stream, & in "Pothole #1" nearby.

We had a beaver for a neighbor, who let us know who was in charge with a loud tail splash!

"Pothole #2" had something even better! It was a small and fairly shallow pond that didn't hold fish but was full of life. We saw tiny white shrimp swimming, dark squirmy leeches, and so many caddis larvae with their neat little stick cases.

Then, I thought I saw a tiny snake swimming toward us, but when we looked closer we saw it was a Barred Tiger Salamander! It climbed out of the water and onto Kyle's hand, soaking in some heat. Found out after researching that these little guys are cannibals too. 

When we weren't fishing we worked on our fly tying skills.

I'm smiling, but this was taken after a surprise hailstorm caught us about 10 minutes from camp. We were freezing!

This site also holds the record for hummingbirds! Our feeder was buzzing with happy hummies, and we had a hard time keeping it full! It was so surprising to be in a colder, harsher environment than normal, yet see so many beautiful colorful birds come out of seemingly nowhere!

Kyle was even able to earn their trust and get them to land on him!!

The only downside to this site we found was that apparently this was THEE place to bring your ATV/dirt bike and there were parades of them driving past camp and kicking up huge clouds of dust the entire time we were there. 

Taylor Reservoir itself is huge, and known for it's gold medal fishing. It holds rainbow trout, brown trout, lake trout, kokanee salmon, and northern pike. Below the lake, where the Dam empties out is where the real action is. It's known to have some of the biggest stream-born trout in the contiguous United States, some reaching over 10 lbs., mostly in thanks to the dam kicking back protein-rich Mysis Shrimp. There are strict regulations below the dam - Catch & Release only, and Artificial Lures only. So the fish get to learn from their mistakes and are now experts at spotting lures, and recognizing fishermen shadows. They are tough to catch, but you can see them so clearly from the shore and it's so tempting that we had to try. Not a single bite on our flies, but we did watch one eat bird poop!! 

We took our kayak out on Taylor Lake to try catching some Pike or Lake Trout. Though we saw a few fish chase our lures, we didn't get any bites. Not long after we paddled out, it got super windy and the waves were too big to continue so we paddled/surfed the waves back to shore.

We also fished the Lower Taylor, and though it was beautiful we had no bites.

We did get to see this awesome herd of moose on our way back home though! 

After two big hikes in June, on top of years of hard use, Kyle's old Army boots were worn out. We found some on sale while running errands and both got a pair of waterproof hiking boots! 

After Roosevelt National Forest, we moved East to Pike National Forest near Pike's Peak / Tarryall. The new spot was about an hour from Colorado Springs, and two hours from Denver. We'd searched Freecampsites.net and found a listing with many reviews for a site on FSR-275 behind a cattle gate. There were a few other campers along that road but we found a great private spot and set up camp. We saw a herd of pronghorn napping in the field behind us, and enjoyed a gorgeous rainbow. 

Lake George & Skinny Reservoir nearby both boast of gold medal fishing. We had a great time exploring, but as far as the fishing goes we were skunked again. At least we saw these cute donkeys on our way there. 

Late that night when we got back to camp after our trip, we found a note on our door from the U.S. Forest Service. The notice said this road was closed to camping, and to please relocate ASAP. 

We woke up early the next morning to pack up and move, and were greeted by a USFS truck around 9am saying we had until noon to move because they were closing the gate then. We had the camper ready to hook up by 10am, but left with just the truck first to scout out a new site. We found one about 20 minutes away, on 231B, and moved over to it. It was a lesson we already knew, but learned again: Just because it's listed online and other people are camping there, doesn't mean it's actually allowed. Maybe it used to be allowed on that road, but it was just another good reminder to check the Vehicle Use Map to make sure we don't run into this kind of situation again!

The new spot was in a big clearing, which for us is usually a no-go. We try to find single sites where nobody can camp close to you, because on weekends, these big open sites tend to fill up with people and most of them are there to party, not enjoy the peace of nature. We parked there anyway because we needed a site and hoped that it wouldn't get too busy. Unfortunately, this was where we had one of the worst experiences with other campers yet. 

As expected, a few others showed up and set up camp in the clearing. It filled up throughout the evening, but for the most part everyone was pretty quiet. Later that night, a truck pulled in bumping his radio at full volume and set up camp near us, but never shut his music off. Literally hours of shaking our camper walls with his obnoxious music. I felt even worse for the other campers who were mostly in tents, since they had less material to block out the noise. We thought maybe he'd turn it off or even just down eventually, but at almost midnight Kyle finally went out to ask him to turn it down. They also had a big campfire going, which Kyle mentioned was not allowed due to the current fire ban. The guy responded by not only NOT turning the music down, but by setting off full-fledged fireworks just a few minutes later. How can you be so disrespectful of other campers trying to enjoy the outdoors, and of the rules of the land you're being allowed to camp on? The fire ban was in place for a good reason - huge wildfires were breaking out all over the West. It really gets to me when people break important rules just to be defiant. After Kyle went back over to talk to them, he finally turned it down. And, since it rained for the rest of the weekend, they weren't able to have any more fires.

We explored Tarryall reservoir nearby, which was really pretty - from the huge rushing waterfall below to the cool rock formations that surround the lake. 

Another spot known for it's great fishing, but again, we had no luck. We kayaked all around the reservoir and even saw rainbow trout jumping, but couldn't get a single bite. We tried so many (apparently) "great" sites to fish this month, but had so little luck actually catching anything.

The coolest thing we saw at Tarryall Reservoir was a helicopter rushing in to scoop up water and fly off again a few times. We even watched it refuel across the street and take off again. I'm not sure if there was actually something on fire that it was putting out, or if it was just training, but either way it was pretty neat!

After the Reservoir, we tried out Tarryall Creek where Kyle saved this baby bird from drowning!

While in the Denver area, we were able to visit my sweet friend Kate and her daughter Aislyn who I used to babysit! We truly enjoyed the good company and conversation. Life on the road gets really lonely, and we'd been even more isolated this year due to Covid-19. Our last in person contact with friends or family was back in early March, so visiting with a good friend even just for a day or two warmed my heart. We were also able to have a few items delivered to her place, including parts for our battery which helped us out a ton! 

In August we'll be leaving Colorado to start making our way back East, and visiting the breathtaking Badlands National Park for Kyle's birthday!

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