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Camping in Colorado – Summer 2021
- By Michael Lakus
- Read Time: 5min
First family tent Camping trip
The camping extravaganza in August was quite a success this year, and kicked off what will hopefully be many more backpacking and camping excursions. This trip took my family, plus a few more goonies, out to State Forest State Park in Colorado. I was especially pumped for this outing, given my latest shopping sprees at REI. I definitely couldn’t wait much longer to test out all the new gear.
For the edit, I was surprised with the amount of content I captured since it felt like recordings were far and few between. Nevertheless it turned out great and has an epic Tears for Fears soundtrack that we could not stop singing the entire trip.
Travel Expenses
I booked 2 RT flights for 29K points on Southwest and two rooms in Boulder at a Marriott one night prior. Everything else was included for camping by the rest of my loving family! Not including the REI price tag, total was around $300.
The camping location was situated at Bockman Campground in State Forest. As seen in the map below, all the trails and lakes we picked were a short car drive away. This allowed us to hike the mornings and have sunset dinners each evening.
Lakes, shrooms and wildlife
Over the course of the camping trip, we saw our fair share of all the Colorado outdoors had to offer. There were some big ‘ole buck, beaver dams, moose, vibrant mushrooms and wildflowers, lakes teaming with trout and even some interesting insects. And who can forget the rockiest of mountains.
On the first day, we decided to hike Lake Agnes trail, which was a perfect 2.2mi warmup, considering we’re starting at over 10,000ft in elevation. Gotta acclimate! At the trail summit, Lake Agnes appeared with Nokhu Crags on the left – jagged peaks with boulders and rocks running all the way down to the lake.
Elevation Alert
Keep that hydration station close and bring sunscreen. You are much closer to the sun, after all!
One of the more random discoveries happened on the tail end of the camping journey. It took some research, but we’ve determined what we first thought were berries, turned out to be galls. And this gall was named the “willow apple gall sawfly.” Essentially, a gall looks like a berry on a bush, but just so happens to be housing a sawfly larva. Half nasty, half fascinating!
The bigger the hike, the bigger the reward
When camping is in full swing, so are the hikes. And big time hike guy appreciates some Rocky Mountain highlands. As a result, one day was dedicated to much epic-ness in both hiking and a fulfilling meal.
It started off by taking American Lakes Trail, which went to Michigan Lakes, and eventually Snow Lake. Lots of Lakus. Roughly 8mi in and out. The journey had some pitstops and hurdles, but we overcame the odds and reached the highlands. Now, camping here would have been insane, but I don’t think it was permitted. We skirted along the lake shore, spotting some moose on the far side and admired the Swiss-like alpine.
While the fam stayed around Lake Michigan, I took a quick last scramble up to Snow Lake, which was basically an inclined boulder field for a few hundred yards. Very reminiscent of the Delta Lake hike with the squad.
It goes without say that we all had noodle legs when we made it back to the car. The only thing left to do was to get back to the campground and reward ourselves with dinner – ultimate bacon grilled cheese and tomato soup to boot! Thankfully my sister brought her new camping stove and setup which made prep-work a breeze.
Ranger Lake and fishing success?
For our last day of camping, fly fishing was top of the list. I didn’t mention it, but each of the previous days we fished at the other lakes with zero fish caught. So it was time, and Ranger lake was all we had left. While my dad and Smitty led the charge in the main lake, I took an audible to check out the back trails and see if other spots were better for fishing. It didn’t take long to realize they were at the wrong spot. After witnessing those trout going ham, we made the switch and finally got one hooked!
The first catch was led by a few more, and we actually ended up learning a bit from a fellow fly fisherman with, no lie, 10 thousand lures on him. Not sure where he hid all these, but yea, he sounded legit.
Aside from the successful fishing, we had another amazing camping lunch. Everyone stepped up their food game. And the chipmunks appreciated this, too.
Ending
Overall, I thought 3 days camping in Colorado was a perfect amount of time, taking into account the gear I had. Additionally, I learned a few things and made some switch-a-rooskies back home.
- The rated degrees on a sleeping bag means “temp at which you will survive”
- A good sleeping pad goes a long way
- Wet wipes are amazing
-ML
Recap of Places
Check out the MAP for links!
- Bockman Campground – our camping site! Reserve in advance
- Michigan Lakes (trail)
- Snow Lake (trail)
- Lake Agnes (trail)
- Ranger Lake
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Michael Lakus
IT professional, athlete, musician, ponderer of many things... Born and raised in Florida, I began traveling internationally after college. I created this site primarily to remind myself of where I've been and to share my experiences on traveling with a quirky, stress-free, travel attitude.
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