Another week up in the mountains of Colorado. This time was a little different, I forgot some supplies and had to go into town and used it as an excuse to get a road bike in. (I forgot – Dark chocolate, rice, eggs)
I biked from Grand Lake, Colorado to Granby, Colorado … a flat 35 miler. I had lunch in Granby and it was delicious, just a simple turkey sandwich at a coffee shop (Lava something).
I had the best camping spot on this trip with noone around for miles, I took a nightly 5 mile hike into the hills above my spot and enjoyed the views. I camped at almost 10,000 feet, so it was much higher altitude than last time. There was a ton of easy to find firewood because of fire prevention activities, and the weather was CRAZY. Welcome to June in Colorado. It snowed my last day at slightly higher elevation and hailed daily (you go under a tree for five minutes and it passes).
The mountain biking was amazing in these parts, really fun single track that wasn’t too technical, and a ton of fun in the downhill.
I got a better water container this time, and a solar shower which worked pretty well. I tried to make popcorn in a pan and that didn’t go very well. Fresh veggies, brown rice and fish for lunch, five mile hikes before dinner and running/road biking/mountain biking for a week and I finally hit the weight target I wanted for my marathon 
And I got to eat all the smores I wanted!
Here are some pictures:
And an email excerpt I sent to some friends:
Last week I explored Arapaho National Forest, specifically Stillwater Pass, which is above Grand Lake, near Gramby on the
“quiet side” of Rocky Mountain National Park.
It was quiet alright, there was no one camped near miles of me.
I had mountain biking and jeeping trails right out my “back door”, and took a beutiful 5 mile hike every night before
dinner into the hills above my camping spot (elevation: 9700 feet).
I brought my road bike, mountain bike and running shoes, it was a perfect place to train for my triathlon!
The last morning it snowed at higher elevation and the highway I was expecting to take home (trail ridge road) was
closed. I had to take US40 over Berthoud Pass to get back to Denver.
Not much new on this trip, I upgraded to a large rainfly for my rain shelter (it rained or hailed a little bit every day
so this was nice), I got some folding tables to make cooking a little easier, and I got a bigger water container (7
gallons) and a solar shower.
I haven’t quite got the hang of driving the trailer, I backed into a 100 foot tall tree on my way out of camp the last
morning. Not my finest moment
Next up is some camping by Ouray and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Then no more camping until August as I explore the
world by more conventional (plane/hotel) methods (San Diego, Boston/Providence and South Africa).
Posted by abstemi0us 
