After turning back around at the Georgetown exit, it was time to head towards Breckenridge, where we will try to find us a camping spot for the night. The descend downwards was a long haul and the road construction made it even harder-specially to truckers. We actually had one trucker just ahead of us that had to use the runaway ramp. We think he was having more engine trouble than brake trouble.
We couldn’t help but laugh at the signs on the Interstate that stated something like this: “Lost brakes? don’t take the exit, the road ascends just ahead…” I know it’s really not funny, but just sounded funny. The other sign that caught our eye was: “Truckers don’t be fool, descend for another (number) of miles.”
We decided that we will have no trouble taking our motorhome through the Rockies. the worst descend for us will be in the heart of Denver-or so we are told, but I think we will be just fine. So now comes some fun time…..
You could easily see that the town of Breckenridge was not only a college community but also a richly ski resort community. You saw no run down homes, and again all carried the Swiss Alpine looks.
After carefully reading the instructions to the Lower Chrystal Lake, and taking only two wrong turns, we finally found our destination and found it-disappointing. According the directions and usage guide-it stated “mildly busy”. To us we would think a few cars, and some hikers-NOT! The parking lot was over flowing. We put the car into 4-wheel drive and went just in a little ways deeper into the Crystal Lake area. Found a camping spot, but wasn’t totally sold on it.
Time to grab a snack and then hike further on up-maybe in hopes of finding the Crystal Lakes and maybe another camping spot.
As we walked, we kept ascending, making our breathing a little labor. We only went so far and decided that this just wasn’t the spot for us. time to look at the map and maybe find another camping spot. It wasn’t quite noon-so we still had plenty of time to find something.
We continue farther down on HWY 9 with intentions of taking a loop cross country on 4 wheel drive. I knew we would find a camping spot along the way that would be remote and quiet for us.
As we kept ascending up hill we wonder what we were getting ourselves into when we came upon Hoosier Pass on the Continental Divide! I was so excited to be on the divide and wanted to explore the area a little.
As we walked around, we found the perfect campsite that would suit us just fine. It was time to set up camp for the night and hunt down some wood. Wood finding was easy, for many fallen pine tress were on the ground-dead from the beetles.
Now it’s time to hike up the Continental Divide and be in the heart of the Rockies. What an awesome experience!!!
The view was so breath taking that I had to stop and take constant pictures.
As we walked, we kept climbing higher and higher, and decided that our lungs and heart needed a rest, so back down to our campsite we headed. Sure wish we had more time to spend in this area, but we would need our bodies time to rest for the height of the elevation that we were on.
After finishing cutting our wood, starting a campfire it was time to get something to eat and just sit back and relax. As we are relaxing, I finally realized I had lost my watch. The watch meant a lot to me, since Brian bought is special for me over 17 years ago. But I think when I picked up Leah, the clasp must have come undone and therefore was lost at the Continental Divide. There was no way we were about to climb back up to find it. So it was a sad time for me…
As the evening went on, my breathing started to get more labor, my sinus completely shut down and my face started to swell a little. Brian said I was getting paler by the minute and then I started to feel sick. If I got up, everything would spin. It was decided that I was getting altitude sickness and we would need to get to lower elevation. Thinking our camping trip was done and we would head back home, I really felt sad that this had to happen. Poor Brian had to pack everything back up on his own and we had to head on down.
As we got down to Lake Dillon, about 1000 feet lower, I was already feeling better. I told Brian I would feel fine if we would spend the night at lake Dillon. I would rather camp there than try to drive all the way back to our park in the dark. So we found a nice spot at Lake Dillon on the White
I think if we would have more time at the higher elevation and rested before exploring, I would not had that trouble. But we were on a short time schedule…
Part Three will continue on our saga heading back on I-70 Westbound-homeward bound.
We couldn’t help but laugh at the signs on the Interstate that stated something like this: “Lost brakes? don’t take the exit, the road ascends just ahead…” I know it’s really not funny, but just sounded funny. The other sign that caught our eye was: “Truckers don’t be fool, descend for another (number) of miles.”
We decided that we will have no trouble taking our motorhome through the Rockies. the worst descend for us will be in the heart of Denver-or so we are told, but I think we will be just fine. So now comes some fun time…..
You could easily see that the town of Breckenridge was not only a college community but also a richly ski resort community. You saw no run down homes, and again all carried the Swiss Alpine looks.
After carefully reading the instructions to the Lower Chrystal Lake, and taking only two wrong turns, we finally found our destination and found it-disappointing. According the directions and usage guide-it stated “mildly busy”. To us we would think a few cars, and some hikers-NOT! The parking lot was over flowing. We put the car into 4-wheel drive and went just in a little ways deeper into the Crystal Lake area. Found a camping spot, but wasn’t totally sold on it.
Time to grab a snack and then hike further on up-maybe in hopes of finding the Crystal Lakes and maybe another camping spot.
As we walked, we kept ascending, making our breathing a little labor. We only went so far and decided that this just wasn’t the spot for us. time to look at the map and maybe find another camping spot. It wasn’t quite noon-so we still had plenty of time to find something.
We continue farther down on HWY 9 with intentions of taking a loop cross country on 4 wheel drive. I knew we would find a camping spot along the way that would be remote and quiet for us.
As we kept ascending up hill we wonder what we were getting ourselves into when we came upon Hoosier Pass on the Continental Divide! I was so excited to be on the divide and wanted to explore the area a little.
As we walked around, we found the perfect campsite that would suit us just fine. It was time to set up camp for the night and hunt down some wood. Wood finding was easy, for many fallen pine tress were on the ground-dead from the beetles.
Now it’s time to hike up the Continental Divide and be in the heart of the Rockies. What an awesome experience!!!
The view was so breath taking that I had to stop and take constant pictures.
As we walked, we kept climbing higher and higher, and decided that our lungs and heart needed a rest, so back down to our campsite we headed. Sure wish we had more time to spend in this area, but we would need our bodies time to rest for the height of the elevation that we were on.
After finishing cutting our wood, starting a campfire it was time to get something to eat and just sit back and relax. As we are relaxing, I finally realized I had lost my watch. The watch meant a lot to me, since Brian bought is special for me over 17 years ago. But I think when I picked up Leah, the clasp must have come undone and therefore was lost at the Continental Divide. There was no way we were about to climb back up to find it. So it was a sad time for me…
As the evening went on, my breathing started to get more labor, my sinus completely shut down and my face started to swell a little. Brian said I was getting paler by the minute and then I started to feel sick. If I got up, everything would spin. It was decided that I was getting altitude sickness and we would need to get to lower elevation. Thinking our camping trip was done and we would head back home, I really felt sad that this had to happen. Poor Brian had to pack everything back up on his own and we had to head on down.
As we got down to Lake Dillon, about 1000 feet lower, I was already feeling better. I told Brian I would feel fine if we would spend the night at lake Dillon. I would rather camp there than try to drive all the way back to our park in the dark. So we found a nice spot at Lake Dillon on the White
I think if we would have more time at the higher elevation and rested before exploring, I would not had that trouble. But we were on a short time schedule…
Part Three will continue on our saga heading back on I-70 Westbound-homeward bound.
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