Back at the Bear

August 5th – 10th, 2022

After taking care of various errands and checking email at Steamboat Lake State Park, I needed to head south again. I reserved a couple of nights at the campground on Turquoise Lake, near Leadville, but not until the 10th. I needed to allow time for mail to be forwarded to General Delivery at the Leadville Post Office and to set up a time to run down to Tyler’s near Boulder, to pick up some items there. That gave me 5 nights to find a site somewhere between Steamboat and Leadville. As I would be moving on a Friday, I needed a sure thing, so I returned to Bear Lake CG, west of Yampa. So far, it has been my favorite campground.

As I was setting up, the couple who are the campground hosts, came by and introduced themselves. We ended up talking for about an hour. In that time I discovered some interesting information. The first was that the demographic had changed starting in 2020, the start of the Covid pandemic. Campgrounds were filled all through that summer, seemingly by people just trying to escape being locked down. Many tried camping as it provided social distancing and got people out into nature. Most campers were traveling long distances and arrived from all over the country. In 2021, however, campgrounds were not quite as full and there was a mixture of locals and long distance travelers. Now in 2022, probably because of fuel prices, campgrounds are at a little lower capacity than 2021, but are mostly all local. In other words, here in Colorado, most campers are from Colorado, primarily the Denver area and other front range towns and cities. In walking the campground loop, I was able to verify this, as my vehicle was the only one with “out of state” plates. Most people I conversed with, were from suburbs of Denver. Not only are they local, but they are mostly weekend camping. This explains why I am able to find sites as long as I move Sunday afternoon through Thursday.

The second thing I learned was that while I have no cell phone signal here, if one were to have a cell booster, such as Weboost, you would get enough signal to make voice calls or send texts. You just can’t send and receive data, making the internet unusable. Most places I have camped, I either have gotten from good to poor service. With the Weboost, I might be able to get good service in those places with a poor signal, and voice/text in places with very little signal. This would make it easier to stay in contact with family and friends.

Lastly, we talked about places to go in the winter. Obviously, many people go to Arizona. Arizona is a big state. It can be quite warm in the south and snowing in the north. Most people want to avoid the snow, as freezing water lines in your camper is an issue. I was told that, based on their experience, the Tucson area is optimal. It is not as crowded as areas toward the California border (Quartzite), generally stays warm, and there are a lot of activities that get planned by the “snowbirds” that camp in the area. They mentioned a woodworking shop that was set up, organized picnics, needle work get togethers (not my cup of tea), etc. That sounds interesting as opposed to spending the winter months mostly isolated.

On Sunday, I decided to hike up the Mandall Creek Trail, which starts just up the road from the campground entrance. It is a very nice trail, uphill but not to steep, and winds through a large grove of Aspens, finally going through alternating pine/spruce forest and open meadows. It is often near the rushing creek, crossing the creek twice. Crossings make having trekking poles a good idea, as they are on large rocks or fallen logs. Balance is essential, if you prefer not to swim in snow melt water. At about the 3 1/2 mile point, the trail passes near Slide Mandall Lake which is at the foot of one of the Flat Tops Wilderness’s typical rock wall ridges. Black Mandall Lake is about 3/4 mile further. Several other lakes are also scattered across the high mountain basin. I found the Aspen forest to be particularly nice. As you walk along the trail, you are sharing it with a member of the largest living lifeforms on this planet. Aspens in a grove are all interconnected by a single giant root system. Each tree is part of a much larger organism. I wonder of Al Gore was hiking through an Aspen forest, when he get the idea to invent the internet, connecting people like one big organism? NOT!

There is ample opportunity to view wildlife along the trail. I walked over a rise and came face to face with a mule deer and at one point while sitting on a log taking a break, a pine squirrel came down the log, stopped about 10 feet away, and started scolding me. I don’t speak squirrel, but I am pretty sure it was “You don’t belong here. Move your sorry butt away.” It might also be a good idea to carry bear spray. It is Bear Creek Valley, after all.