Clear Lake

I headed for the hills over the weekend and went camping at Clear Lake in the Colorado State Forest State Park.




I had everything all packed up Thursday night so that I could leave right after work on Friday and camp midway between home and the hike trailhead. I drove an hour up the Poudre Canyon and camped along Pingree Park road. I was surprised at how easy it was to find a camp site. I expected there to be plenty of people out and about on a Friday night, but I even saw open spots at the popular sites along the Poudre River. Maybe I was just a little earlier than other people. The problem with driving up and camping is that Kuzca hasn't had a good long walk to tire her out. She was very restless throughout the night and kept me up quite a bit. We finally ended up waking up for good a little before 6. I packed up the tent, ate breakfast, and we got on our way by 6:30.

Another hour of driving the the park, and then 20 minutes on a dirt road and we were at the trailhead. I wouldn't rate this trail as one of the better trails I've ever done. About 5 of the 7 miles were on a dirt road. Once we got off the road, there was a lot of steep climbing. Maybe there were terrain features the prevented taking an easier, switchback-y route, but it just didn't seem like a route that was designed well.

The last couple miles were tiring, but we finally made it to the lake and were greeted with complete solitude. I picked this lake for a few reasons: 1) I've never been there, 2) I seldom go to this park in the summer, and 3) It was the most remote lake in the park and I was hoping that kept people away. There's nothing like having a whole lake to yourself. We camped where we wanted, and Kuzca could run around unfettered. The only people we saw the whole time were a group of trail workers that were riding ATV's up to an area where they were building a new trail. The ranger in the group kindly reminded me that Kuzca needed to be on a leash. Blah blah blah. :)

The fishing at the lake was great. There was a great rock a little ways into the water that was easy for both Kuzca and I to get to. From there I had lots of room for casting and Kuzca could snooze while I fished (when she wasn't off chasing critters). When it came to fly selection, I could do no wrong. I caught a fish with my first fly, so I decided to try another to see if I got lucky. Nope, they took that fly too. Then I tried another, and it worked. A little later, I noticed the fished weren't rising to the surface, so I tried something under water and it worked too. Amazing. Some of the fish were small, but others were really nice. I hadn't planned on cooking fish, so they all went back in the water to live out their fishy lives.

There are some nice things about backpacking solo, but it's really not the same without Christine there. I like being able to go whatever speed I want and go by my own schedule, but in the end that doesn't outweigh the value of having a good camping companion. I find myself wishing she were there in the evenings so we could hang out and look at the stars, go for a walk up to a peak, or snuggle up next by a campfire. I can't wait until her hip is good enough to go backpacking again.

We didn't dilly-dally too much in the morning. I had an easy no-cook breakfast of bagels, and heated up some water for chai tea. We were packed up and hiking at 8AM. All the steep climbing on the way up was pretty rough on the way down too. I did something to my right foot and knee that's still hurting today. Hopefully it goes away, but I made an appointment with the doctor for tomorrow just in case.

I had a sneaking suspicion that I'd run into the same work crew again on ATV's. It would make sense for them to go up and work both days of the weekend, and I made a guess that we'd see them on the road at about 9:30. Right on cue, at 9:30 I heard the rumble of engines and I quickly leashed up Kuzca. I gave the ranger a knod and a wave with my leash hand. :)

The lower parts of the trail are filled with free range cattle. I like the idea of letting them roam around, but they sure do make a mess. At one point on the trail I was actually surrounded by them and I grabbed a big stick that I could use to bang on things and make noise. I wouldn't expect a cow to come after me, but one of them had a few calves around her and she kept giving me the eye. Kuzca was surprisingly okay with all these big creatures. I kept her leashed up just in case, and also to keep her from drinking from streams that were being contaminated by cow poo.

All in all a good weekend. That may be the last camping trip I take this year, so I'll savor it.

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The large rock on the left side of the photo is were I mainly hung out and fished.


I took a lot of self portraits on this trip.


I actually found some wild berries. These ones looked a lot like raspberries, but I wasn't willing to risk it. Later I found some that were almost definitely raspberries, but I still thought it would be better not to take the chance. I need to read up on wild berries, because that would have been freakin' awesome.


I don't know if Kuzca was chasing critters or hiding in this photo. It was funny, though, how she was peeking around this large boulder while I was getting her backpack ready.

There's a few more photos on Flickr.