It also meant that it was time for an escape. To recover. To recuperate. To enjoy a few days out of the ridiculous heat we've been experiencing. So... Jay and I and Mary-Margaret and a couple of her friends headed up outside of Nederland, CO to find a place to camp. We were originally headed towards Rainbow Lakes Campground. On the way we saw some of the most beautiful skies...
However, when we got up there on Friday evening, it was all full! So, we dug into our Colorado Campgrounds book and headed towards Ward, CO. Which we hoped had 3 other campsites to check out. We headed into the Brainard Lake Recreation Area. The campground up there was full too... but we did find one of the many "non-designated" camp spots that can be found all over Colorado. A fire ring and flat ground works out perfectly for us! Mostly because it was getting really dark by that point, and none of us wanted to try looking in another campground.
We quickly set up tents by flashlight and lantern and threw all our gear in the tents. We had JUST managed to grab some food stuffs out of the cars when it started to rain. So we all piled into mine and Jay's tent to hunker down, eat some food and drink some beer. Good thing too! Not 10 minutes after the rain started... the HAIL started! Yes, hail. I've never experienced hail in a tent before. And I am happy to announce that all tents made it through the hailstorm unscathed. The ground looked like a dusting of snow had fallen. The rain/hail let up enough for everyone to disperse to their own tents and we all settled in for a cool night in the mountains.
The next morning we all ended up getting up pretty early. Breakfasts were had, and we took a look around our impromptu campsite in the daylight. It was really pretty!
The conclusion of our hike was at Brainard Lake itself. And it was totally worth the hike!!! The lake was gorgeous. We had a chance to sit down, have a snack... and I even took off my shoes and socks and stuck my feet in the ice cold lake. It was lovely!
you can see the storm clouds taking over |
MM and I! |
look at all the hail! |
hail in action |
we chose the road. It was a good road. |
The rain ended up clearing up and Jay and I took a hike around our campsite. It was really pretty scenery.
Jay and I being goofballs |