Camping in Colorful Colorado

Colorado activities always leave you with a long list of options. The most common, of course, being skiing/snowboarding in the winter and our favorite in the summer: camping. What I love most about camping is that we can spend a weekend away, for relatively cheap, see the beautiful state we live in and bring the puppies with us!

Chapman Reservoir

A couple of summers ago, we made a last minute decision to go camping, and essentially picked our spot based on what was available for a reservation. That led us to the White River National Forest and Chapman Campground. This great little spot is a long haul from Denver, five hours to be exact. (Head west to Glenwood Springs, south to Basalt, than an hour east from there) Eek! I know, it's a long drive. But what we found that we love about it is the trail options within the campsite, the small reservoir where we can paddle board, a lot of shade and the privacy. I get absolutely no cell phone service out here, which I love! To me, if I can still scroll Facebook and people can text me, then I haven't gone far enough to really cut myself off from the outside world.

In 2018, we made plans to head back out to this campground, and this time recruited our friends Adam and Allison to join us. The first time we camped here, we had walked around scouting out all of the campsites, and had made our reservation early enough to pick the one we wanted. It's very remote and has a lot of shade options. In fact, someone came by to tell us they were bummed we beat them to it - apparently everyone agrees it's the best spot in town!

I had a work event that brought me to the campsite one day later than everyone else. By the time I arrived, we all packed right up again and headed to the reservoir to do some paddle boarding. Bryan and I had gotten an inflatable paddle board for Christmas and were excited to finally test it out. We all took turns on it, including the dogs! Our youngest pup, Moose, was only about five months old at the time, and he had a great time going out with dad, and was very calm. Koda, on the other hand, was just worried about what dad was doing - why are you leaving us?! And Adam and Allison's pup, Nelson? He wanted to race mom and dad back to shore! He loved sitting on the board, but took advantage of his opportunity to jump off and swim in the cool water.

Cheetos seasoning!

When we headed back to camp, we started on dinner. As a snack, Allison had brought some popcorn that is meant to be made over the campfire, and you just add seasoning. I told her we had some, because I had just prepared them for our trip, and they didn't need to bring anything. When it came time to do the seasoning, I could not find them ANYWHERE. I tore apart every single tote we had and they were nowhere to be found. So we pulled out our camping resourcefulness heads and made our own seasoning. What's you ask? Cheetos crumbs. We had a bag of Cheetos we crushed up and dumped on the popcorn? New favorite snack? Not so much.....but not the worst thing I've ever ate! (In case you're wondering, the seasonings were found in preparing for our NEXT camping trip. Packed nicely away in a small box meant to hold eggs, right where I left them.) 

The next morning, Adam and Allison packed up, but Bryan and the pups and I stayed one more night. Again, we went to the reservoir to paddle board, took long walks around the campground, and just enjoyed the peacefulness of outdoors. Well, most of us did. As much as little Moose LOVED being in the water and on the paddle board as soon as the sun started to go down and the fire was on, he was NOT a fan of camping. We still aren't sure what spooks him, he gets very shaky and wants to go in the tent to bed immediately. We think it might be the cackle of the fire. Regardless, because he was so small we were able to hold him in our lap - can't beat those snuggles!

The next morning we called it a day and headed back to Denver. This trip is always our favorite, despite how long the drive is. And one that is already on the books for 2019!

They really do love camping!