Working Holiday

The first week of my adventures was spent with my sister in Colorado.  We flew from Gatwick to Denver on Saturday 20^th July and spent the week ‘car camping’ (driving between day hikes and campsites).  Our first day was largely spent sorting ourselves out and setting ourselves up for the week ahead, and by that, I mean being handed everything on a plate by our wonderful cousin Jess and her overly generous fiancé Mike!  We stayed our first night at their house in Erie, sleeping off some of the jet lag, and our second night with them at their Cabin in Granby.  On Monday, we left the comfort and luxury of their Granby home and headed on down to Turquois Lake (near Leadville), with our rental car full to the gunnels with the camping equipment Jess and Mike had kindly lent us for the week.  Having not booked anything in advance, we decided we would just rock up to a couple of campgrounds and hope one would have a spare site knocking around.  Sure enough, the first campground we visited (Baby Doe) had just received a cancellation so we set up our tent on one of their lakeside sites.  Like all campgrounds in the region, Baby Doe was incredibly basic whilst simultaneously having everything you need.  Each site had a picnic table and fire pit, and each loop of sites had a simple toilet block, and tap with running water.  We hit the hay early as on Tuesday, we planned to tackle Mount Elbert, which has an elevation of 14439 feet, making it the highest summit in Colorado.  We were walking by 5.15am, head torches on as the sun had not yet risen. Such an early start was necessary to ensure we had summitted and returned back down below the tree line before the early afternoon storms hit.  The 12.5 mile trail took us 10.5 hours to complete.  It was one of the toughest climbs I have ever done and the sense of achievement in reaching the top was immense.  The next morning, we packed up camp and drove the scenic Independence Pass towards Aspen, stopping on our way for a significantly easier, yet no less spectacular, gander along the continental divide.  We pitched our tent at Weller campground, on the Aspen side of Independence Pass, before heading out for an afternoon walk up Difficult Creek.  Thursday was spent hiking in Maroon Bells, with its stunning red rocks, glistening lakes and beautiful flower meadows, whilst Friday lead us on to our final destination, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  After setting up camp at the North Rim campground, we hiked up Green Mountain, for jaw-dropping views of the canyon, which provided an incredible contrast to the enormous mountains we had immersed ourselves in over the previous few days.  That night we experienced the terrors of camping in a storm and found great comfort in the knowledge that it was our final night under canvas.  We broke up the 6-hour drive back to Jess and Mike’s house in Denver with a hike up Vail mountain.  It was the first time I had visited a ski resort in the summer and was excited by the buzzing mountain biking scene.  Perhaps something to consider trying out in the near future? Overall, week one was a huge success.  We hiked some incredible trails and camped in some spectacular locations.  It was epic and activity filled, yet it felt like we only scratched the surface of what Colorado has to offer.