First Night Camping


This post was published on Thursday 18 July 2013.

Last night was my first in a tent this trip—and true to form, as I drove from the cafe where I had my dinner to the campsite, it started to rain!  Thankfully it was only a drizzle by the time I had checked in and found a good spot, and the tent was pretty quick to put up.

Mesa Verde Campsite
Another gratuitous shot of the Mustang

I slept ok, apart from it being extremely cold!!  I had expected it to be 20C+ overnight, so hadn’t bought a sleeping bag yet.  I have now bought one.

This morning I got up and headed back to the same cafe for a breakfast burrito, blueberry muffin and diet Pepsi (I have given up drinking coffee).  It is a glorious morning, so the top is down, and I stopped off at the highest point in the park to admire the view.  This part of Colorado is a lot greener than Southern Urah and Arizona, and although I am 8000 feet high, the rolling peaks remind me of the Lake District (just a good 5-6000 feet higher).

I’m now going to explore the park a bit more, before heading off to the next place, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  That park isn’t in my guide books, so I don’t know what to expect!  Each park gives you a brochure and a newspaper on entry, which tell you all about the park, its history, and what you can do, including hiking trails.  So as long as I don’t get there too late, I think a good hike round a lake is in order (I’m hankering for a view of a pretty lake after all these canyons).