Friday.

Day 1

Driving To Rocky National Park. 

Nebraska National Forest and Sand Hills did not disappoint. It was a beautiful place to start the day and the drive to the Rockies. There were so many wildflowers, wild yuccas, rolling brush covered sand dunes, and old-style windmill-pumped stock water troughs that I wondered why on earth anyone would complain about driving across Nebraska. And then suddenly all that was left were the old-timey windmills. But, now there were also way too many cattle feedlots for my taste and the rest of Nebraska and the majority of Colorado were dullsville. 

Thankfully, as soon as we could see the mountains our spirits were buoyed with the promise of cooler air and startling beauty. Through all of our drive it was 90+ degrees, but when we began our ascent into the Rockies the temperature quickly and steadily fell down to the 70’s. It’s expected to be just above freezing tonight. Delightful!!

Our campsite is nothing short of breathtaking. It overlooks a wide open meadow and is flanked in three sides with snow capped mountain peaks. 

Shortly after arriving to the campsite, we spotted a large herd of elk down in the meadow that we overlook. Lucas and I walked down the hill a bit to see them a little clearer through our binoculars. Just now, at dusk, we heard an elk bellow. It sounded much too high and sing-songy for such a large animal. 

A ranger stopped by at supper time to tell us that all of our camper doors and windows must be shut and locked and all of our gear, including our chairs, must be stowed. “Their are active black bears in the area and they WILL get into your stuff.” Well okie-dokie. Jason pointed out (just to me) that we’ve left our windows open and chairs out in every other bear area we’ve camped in, but we will comply. I do not want to wake up in the middle of the night to a bear shaking the camper ala “The Great Outdoors,” trying to get to our marshmallows. Plus, Jason managed to spill his Pepsi all over around the campground, so there is sure to be some sort of twilight visitor. 

Hitting the hay early tonight as we’re going to hike to sky pond tomorrow bright and early. 

My stats:

Friends made by Marcus-3

Chairs in the fire-1

Bathroom breaks-like a hundred, at least. 

Wildlife spotted-Elk and deer

Boy fights-ZERO

Times I suggested alternate navigation-ZERO

$ spent on gas station food-~$50

Broken camper parts-2 (1 resolved... 1 not so much (Christina, you were right about the drain hose; it sprung a leak))