Hi, friends! It seems like forever since I’ve shared a good camping recap with you all. Luckily, that is exactly what I’m going to talk about today! Fall in Colorado is the perfect time for camping in my opinion. It’s cool enough to enjoy the changing of the leaves, but also warm enough to not freeze in your tent at night. Unfortunately, having prelims the past two Fall seasons (and studying non-stop) has made getting out into nature more difficult for us. The good news is that once I passed my prelim exams, Allen and I headed straight out for a classic Kristin + Allen camping adventure! This time our destination was Routt National Forest. We were almost tempted to go back to the North Crestone area (our favorite from last year!), but decided it would be fun to try out a new spot! Why not, right?!
I had the 2-hour oral portion of my prelim exams at 8am that morning, so I finished up (and passed!) by around 10am. Allen had already taken care of packing up all our gear and grabbing all the food we would need (hot dogs + smores supplies) while I was in the midst of testing. That way when I got home, I could quickly throw my stuff into a bag and we could get on the road!
Oh yes, definitely needed this! Can you tell by my somewhat exhausted expression? 😛
Allen was also super sweet and surprised me with a sprinkle-covered chocolate donut. He’s just the best!
Also, there is nothing better than driving on the great open road in Colorado in the fall. The changing leaves of the Aspen trees are unbelievably beautiful. I was worried we would miss them since they seem to change in the blink of an eye and are usually gone within a week of changing (mid-September). So it was a happy surprise that we got to experience them!
It’s also been awhile since I’ve done a Little Things post, so I never had the opportunity to share with you that Allen got a new car!! We are both so excited about it! He loved his Subaru WRX (WRXy as we like to call her), but wanted something that could hold more gear and didn’t have all the problems associated with an aging car. So after doing lots of research, he decided to get a Subaru Outback!! We call her Pebbles and this was her first adventure out into the wild. (You can see her smile, can’t you? 😉 )
We were actually pretty surprised to find such a great camping spot since we left pretty late in the morning. (Most of the good Colorado camping spots are on a first come first serve basis, so it’s important to get an early start.) Once we found our spot, Allen went to pay the campsite deposit and we got right to setting up camp for the night.
Isn’t this just the sweetest little camping spot you’ve ever seen?! We couldn’t believe how lucky we were to find such an amazing view right by the lake!
Before setting up the inside of our tent, we explored around our camp site a bit and really savored the great outdoors. It had been far too long for me.
Our camping neighbor looked like he was in for a fun weekend too! Can we join?! 😉
Ok, back to work! Here Allen is unrolling our ah-mazing new sleeping pads. We used to take a twin inflatable mattress with us and have to inflate it using a pump hooked up to the car. But these babies are self-inflating and even more comfortable in my opinion! They’ve got a nice thick foam layer that works wonders when sleeping on the ground. They are a little too heavy for backpack camping, but are the perfect solution to car camping!
I honestly didn’t know too much about tent camping before I met Allen. My family used to have a pop-up camper, so even though we used to go “camping” a lot, I wasn’t really sure where to start on camping in a tent. Luckily for me, Allen is an outdoorsman pro. So I thought it would be fun to share with you what I’ve learned and how we set up all the different layers inside our tent (aka: how we keep so warm during the frigid temperatures at night).
First, we put down the inflatable sleeping pads. Like I mentioned above, they are self-inflating. So it’s best to unroll these as soon as you have your tent set up so that they have time to inflate before putting any other layers on top of them.
Next, we cover the tops of the sleeping pads with a regular cotton sheet to keep them as clean as possible while we’re camping. We have an extra set of “old” sheets that we only use for camping.
Next, we layer on two different blankets. First a down-filled one to keep us insulated from the cold ground and secondly a microfiber one that is soft to the touch.
And finally we add each of our sleeping bags on top of all the blankets! We also have an extra sleeping bag that we unzip and keep on top of our sleeping bags at night, as well as an extra blanket or two just in case. (It can get really really cold at night and we’ve even been snowed on in early fall. So it’s best to come prepared!)
After we got the tent all set up, I crawled in for quality control. …because somebody has to check it out, right? 😉
In all honesty, I feel right to sleep. For hours!! Haha. I was exhausted from all the non-stop studying and stress for months on end. So I feel like I deserved a few hours of sleep for that.
I only woke up to Allen gently nudging me that it had started to rain and that our tent was starting to flood. Lol! We did our best to reposition some logs around the tent so that they would divert the water away from us. But we could only do so much! Turns out, it may not have been the perfect camping spot on a rainy day since it was downhill of just about everything. But you know, camping isn’t always perfect. You just have to learn to go with it sometimes!
Because of the rain (and dropping temperatures), we didn’t have the chance to cook hotdogs or smores that night. (We didn’t even attempt to start a fire.) Instead, we stayed inside our tent with a bag of jalapeno potato chips and nearly frozen grapes and just enjoyed each other’s company. It may not have been how we planned the night to go, but it was so much fun in its own right.
The morning after, it still hadn’t hit me that I passed my prelim exams. It’s crazy but sometimes I don’t even know what happened in those weeks, and hours leading up to it. It’s such a blur! But one thing is for sure, I was happy (so happy!) to be done with studying for awhile.
Below, you can see where Allen moved the logs to divert the water. It kind of worked actually!
At any rate, when we peeked outside and saw frost on the ground all around us, we decided to head into Steamboat Springs for breakfast instead of making oatmeal in camp. After laying out all our gear (and letting it dry a bit from the night before), we packed up the car and headed into town. On the way, I looked up good breakfast spots and found that Winona’s came highly recommended.
Stopping in for breakfast was good on its own accord. But it was also nice to change clothes and brush our teeth. It’s the little things when you are camping!
The best thing after a cold night of camping….hot chocolate!!
Allen stuffing his face, per the usual! Lol. I don’t blame him! Potato chips and frozen grapes from the night before only go so far!
I honestly don’t remember much from the meal. Likely because it was so good and we were just inhaling the food as soon as it was delivered. But Winona’s is definitely a place I would recommend and go back to again when in Steamboat Springs.
After breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon walking around town and enjoying all the small town charms of Steamboat. My family and I used to come skiing in Steamboat Springs all the time, but I hadn’t been back in such a long time. So it was nice to see and experience it again.
How about this camping chic outfit, girls? 😉 Haha. All fashion goes out the door when I’m camping, and in comes practical warm layers.
Somehow these mountain towns always seem to have the prettiest flowers displayed all around the city. It was the same way in Aspen too! So naturally I was in heaven with all the beautiful, bright colors! It felt very much like springtime around the town.
While walking around town, we also stumbled onto a local flea market. It was so much fun to explore the work of local artisans. There was everything from jewelry and beauty product to different kinds of foods and artwork. We always have a good time interacting with people at these kinds of events. And it’s so interesting to see what people can create!
Yep…this is so very Allen. Leave it to him to find the one plant in all of Steamboat that he could wear as an Afro. Lol!
After walking around Steamboat for awhile, I mentioned to Allen that I would be up for another night of camping in Routt National Forest. I didn’t feel like we had gotten our fun camping adventure yet since we were posted up in our tent the night before. (Plus, let’s be honest…I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself after the exam and I wasn’t ready to go back to reality just yet.)
So we gassed our car up in Steamboat and headed out to see what kind of camping spot we could find. We weren’t 100% sure we would find anything for the night, so we approached the whole situation with an open mind, knowing very well we might just have to head home early. It’s hard to know when to stop looking for that perfect spot, ya know? We found several camp sites that were ok, but nothing that really jumped out at us. You know those spots I’m talking about…the ones where you are right next to your neighbor and out in the open, instead of covered in trees so that you feel isolated from other groups.
At any rate, we were almost at the point of giving up and going back to Boulder for the night when we drove just a little farther into the forest and turned down a little pathway that led to this perfect, yes perfect little campsite. I mean…can you believe this view!?!
We set up camp much like the night before and were glad to see that the weather was holding off for the night. (…meaning hot dogs and smores!!! the real reason I go camping haha!)
Allen got right to work setting up the fire for us so we wouldn’t get too cold as the sun began to set.
First up for dinner, hot dogs! Yum… It may/may not look appetizing to you now, but hot dogs are where it’s at when you’re camping. We nearly always forget the kethcup when packing our food supplies, so let this be a reminder to you on your next camping trip. Don’t forget the kethcup! (We stopped somewhere along the way to grab some.)
And finally, SMORES! Yessss! Don’t forget to get the dark chocolate (Allen!). Haha, oh well. They were still super delicious!
That evening we got our fill of good old fashioned Colorado camping! And my soul was so, so, so very happy.
And with views like this, we were happy to stay up late into the night when the Moon came out. Those colors though!!
We actually spent a good amount of time taking long exposure pictures and drawing different shapes with the end of our fire stoking stick. Allen created an amazing one with a rocket!! I couldn’t believe how well it turned out! Here’s some of our best ones! (Needless to say, we had a blast just goofing around in the dark!)
The next morning we woke up to make breakfast and take in more of the exceptional views around us. That’s really what camping is all about! Enjoying nature, free of the distractions of our technology-driven lives.
In fact, we had the opportunity to watch a bald eagle hunting for fish around the lake. It was fascinating to watch his strategy each time he dove from the tree tops into the water.
After a leisurely morning around the lake, we packed up our camping gear and headed back toward Boulder.
It’s a little bit of a drive from Routt National Forest to Boulder, so we stopped in Fort Collins for a late lunch at Lucile’s, known for their fantastic breakfast and cajun-inspired dishes. Word to the wise, get the homemade buttermilk biscuits. Just trust me. To-die-for good.
After our late lunch, we headed the rest of the way back to Boulder, our hearts so full from a weekend camping in Routt National Forest! We may not have the chance to go camping again until next summer, but we already can’t wait for our next great adventure together!
No Comments