May 4th, 2023
After leaving Lake Pueblo and spending a night at a Bass Pro Shop near Colorado Springs, I set up camp at Chatfield State Park. This is a park on a reservoir southwest of Denver. My site had electricity, showers, and a laundry.
While there, I visited and hiked at two nearby locations. The first was Roxborough State Park, where I did an early morning hike in Fountain Valley and along Willow Creek. The temperature was quite cool and being a weekday, there were very few other people in the area. The trails looped around large rock formations similar to Garden of the Gods. Foliage was a little behind in budding compared to the Colorado Springs area. I did see 4 separate groups of Whitetail Deer, probably about 50 in total. They didn’t seem too concerned about my presence.
The second day, I hiked around some ponds and along the Platte River at the Audubon Sanctuary at the southern end of Chatfield Reservoir. I was cold and blustery, so there were not a lot of birds to see. There were a few Spotted Towhees, Red Winged Blackbirds and a couple of Mallard drakes.
On May the 5th and 6th, I moved north again, but only for overnights at Cracker Barrel and Cabela’s parking lots. On the 7th I had a 3 day reservation at St. Vrain State Park near Longmont.
Starting All Over 