Turquoise Lake Camping Trip

So we finally got our act together and made it out of Denver at about 1:00 on Friday. Noah slept almost all the way to Leadville, so it was a nice peaceful trip. After a stop at the Leadville Safeway for some essentials (you know, marshmallows and stuff), we went straight to the lake and to our campsite. Father Dyer Campground is beautiful! All forested with lodgepole pine and a short walk to the lake. I highly recommend it if you want to camp at Turquoise Lake, but all the campgrounds there were gorgeous.

We got our camp set up, Noah met the neighbors, and we had dinner. While Dan was cooking the brats, I met our campground hosts who recommended that I run the Turquoise Lake Trail for my 8 miler in the morning. They were from central Louisiana and I think they thought I must have rocks in my head when I asked them if they had a trail recommendation for my run that gained some elevation. The lady was very worried and kept saying, "Don't you need to take at least a day to acclimate?" and "Don't forget to take water and energy bars." Very sweet!

After dinner, Dan and I took Noah to fish down by the lake. We didn't catch anything, but we had a great time and took tons of pictures. I am too lazy to download them right now, so I will post them later.

Two hours later, we were making s'mores and then it was bedtime. Noah slept the whole night and didn't even need to pee until about 8:00 a.m. That's the most he's slept in for ages! The morning was great because Dan got up and made coffee, pancakes, and bacon. I stumbled out of bed to a fully cooked breakfast and hot coffee. Heaven!

The weather on Saturday was not so heavenly though. I did my run around the lake trail and it was cloudy, windy, and not too warm (although it really was pretty good running temperature). While I was running, I saw 2 families hiking, one other runner who looked like some kind of mountain man with his long hair and no shirt in spite of the cold, and 3 mountain bikers. It was a great trail, a little elevation gain, and nice and rugged.

I got back to camp just before noon and Dan and Noah were just setting up for lunch. Dan's plan was to have lunch and then ride his new road bike up over Fremont Pass. It started sprinkling just as he was leaving. By the time Noah and I went into the tent for nap less than an hour later, it was pouring. I was getting a little worried about Dan, but my cell reception was good so I figured he would call if he needed us. Noah and I both fell asleep and slept for about 2 hours. Maybe 10 minutes after we woke up, Dan called from the Safeway in Leadville asking, "Can you come get me?" He sounded horrible, like he was shivering uncontrollably, so Noah, Japhy, and I hopped in the car as quickly as we could and went to get him.

He was still shivering when we got there. He was already drinking coffee and that wasn't helping much, so we took him to the laundromat where he could get a hot shower. He also changed into the dry clothes Noah and I brought for him and that helped. By the time he finished the shower, he was doing much better. He said it was hailing on him as he was riding and getting colder and colder as he went up the pass, but he just kept thinking that it would stop raining any minute now....

It kept raining for most of the rest of the night, so instead of making turkey burgers in the rain at the campsite, we decided to eat dinner at this Mexican restaurant in Leadville called Casa Blanca. It was pretty good and their margaritas are crazy strong.

After another fairly decent night's sleep, Noah and I got up early on Father's Day and made coffee and breakfast for Dan: bacon, cheesy eggs, and whatever pancakes were leftover from the day before. Then we packed up camp, went fishing one more time (still didn't catch anything), and headed back to Denver. It was really nice to get away from the city and felt like a great mini-vacation. I came back very relaxed and very grateful that I live in Colorado.