For the first trip this summer, I made plans to meet my friends Mark and Phyllis at Lost Park Campground in Colorado. I signed up for PTO the week following the 4th of July. Then I began thinking, “why not head out a week early for some solo dispersed camping”? I could take my work laptop with me and work from a campsite if I could find one with cell coverage. You can work remotely from your home or out in the wilds. This would provide a good test for my Jackery power supply and solar panels, using the laptop, 12 volt refrigerator, iPhone hotspot, iPad and Kindle.
So, I packed up all my gear in the pickup and planned to start the drive on Friday afternoon, June 25th. On the prior Wednesday, I was notified that the camper shell for the truck was ready for installation. This was great news, as I could then sleep in the truck rather than a tent.
I headed out on Friday and made it to Grinnell, Iowa the first night. On Saturday I made it the rest of the way across Iowa, Nebraska, and finally to Dillon, Colorado. There I stayed at the La Quinta Inn. As I arrived late in the afternoon, I did not want to try and find a remote campsite that late in the day. I was worried about finding a site, as the reports were that half the population of the U.S. was out camping and RVing. All pay campgrounds were full. The word was, that on Sundays a large number of campers would head back down to Denver.
On Sunday morning, I woke to a covering of snow on the peaks south of Dillon. I made stops for fuel and groceries and drove to Leadville. The drive was spectacular with the low clouds interspersed with views of the peaks. Usually when it starts to snow in the fall, the ground cover is shades of brown. When you get an early summer snow, the cover is green and contrasts with the white snow. This made for a beautiful drive up and over the pass to Leadville.
I first targeted Halfmoon Creek Road for my search for a “free” campsite. I need not have worried about crowding. A few miles up the road I veered onto a Forest Service 4×4 road. There were many potential sites and very few people. The road was too narrow and rocky to pull camper trailers, and thus, the few people I saw were tenting. I found a spot in open forest about 30 feet uphill from the creek. The creek was moving quite fast and I knew I would be able to hear the babbling water at night. I also could try my luck at trout fishing.
The sky was partly cloudy and the forecast called for rain in the afternoons, so I set up a tarp to cover my cooking area and “office”. The Jackery powered my refrigerator all day, staying at a 100% charge.
In the afternoon it rained and sleeted.
On Monday morning, I woke up to a temperature of 37 degrees. I booted up the laptop at 5 am and logged in for my days work. My normal day is from 7am until 4pm. With the 2 hour time zone difference, my day in Colorado starts at 5am. It was just getting light out. I checked my power, and was only down to 93% after a night of running the refrigerator. Starting the laptop and hotspot on my iPhone added a load and by the time the sun was up, power had dropped to 87%. With the cloudy day, I still managed to keep it at that level.
By afternoon, I was treated again to showers and sleet. I did manage to catch a couple Brook trout down at the creek and take a short walk a half mile in either direction along the road. There were no other campers. I made tacos for dinner and buttoned up for the night at 6pm. I watched a Netflix video and did some reading on the Kindle until dark. I knew it was time to sleep when my Kindle hit me in the chest and woke me up.
Tuesday morning saw a heat wave. A total increase of 2 degrees to 39. I fired up the Jetboil and made coffee so my hands would stay warm enough to type. Between conference calls I cooked sausage and eggs.
The sun peaked out only occasionally so the solar panels were not quite able to keep up with the device load today. The battery percentage dropped into the low 60s.
The forecast calls for thunder showers every day for the next week. We will see…
Starting All Over 