{"id":5046,"date":"2012-08-05T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-05T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ahwilderness.com\/?p=1151"},"modified":"2012-08-05T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-08-05T18:00:00","slug":"time-travel-in-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/photos\/time-travel-in-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Time Travel in Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2012-07<\/a><\/p>\n

Our routes in Colorado<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

We\u2019ve been camping in Colorado for more than two decades. Most years, we head up north before the end of June, but this year my book project kept me busy well into July and we hit the road 7\/10 for 14 nights away.<\/p>\n

This year, our travel plan was vague: head north until we encounter rain and cold. We assumed we\u2019d have to go at least as far as Wyoming. Ironically, our first night just south of the NM-CO border was both cool and rainy. We never made it to Wyoming. In fact, it rained every day for the first 11 days. Most nights, the temperature got down below 50 degrees (20+ degrees cooler than Albuquerque nights right now).<\/p>\n

Most trips, we jack-camp, a term that brings a blank look to faces. The official term is \u201cdispersed camping\u201d and we\u2019ve heard \u201cdry camping\u201d \u2013 camping outside of a campground, as is allowed in US forests and BLM lands. (I encountered cognitive dissonance when we reached a campground for \u201cdispersed camping only.\u201d Er, um, they must mean there aren\u2019t any established sites in this CG? Well, the fire rings made that unlikely. Moreover, this was one of two campgrounds maintained by volunteers.) Jack camping means we won\u2019t have any neighbors and we won\u2019t pay for the privilege. Nor will we have outhouses, water, or trash pickup.<\/p>\n

This trip, not only did we stay in campgrounds, but they were more expensive than ever before: $18 per night in one well-worth-it CG; $36 per night in the Ouray KOA (includes hot showers \u2013 and lots of inconsiderate neighbors).<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve kept a journal<\/a> sporadically since college and regularly on these trips since 1998, when we drove to Hinton, Alberta, Canada (a round trip of more than 5000 miles). Each night on a trip, I read older journal entries to Merri before she goes to sleep and then I write until I\u2019m done (sometimes, all I have to say is where we are and what we ate). On this trip, I read the 1998 journal first. Then I skipped to the journal for 6\/2002 because 10 years ago we were travelling the same area of Colorado. In fact, at times, it was uncanny how unintentionally close we were to previous locations and experiences. It\u2019s remarkable to think \u201cthis is so beautiful and we\u2019ve never seen it\u201d and then read that, in fact, we did see it a decade ago and thought it was beautiful then. Of course, the unreliability of memory is one of the reasons I journal \u2013 we forget, and we are often amused to be reminded. Not surprisingly, many journal entries include \u201cit rained today\u201d or some discussion of how we tried to deal with, avoid or escape the relentless rain. This is how desert dwellers vacation. <\/p>\n

Every trip has its doldrums and its peaks. Highlights of this trip include:<\/p>\n