Castle Lake Free Camping - Best Camping in Shasta

Castle Lake Free Camping - Best Camping in Shasta

If you are headed up I-5 on your way to or from Oregon and are curious about what to do in the Mount Shasta area, we got you covered. Castle Lake is an amazing alpine lake with amazing views and very easy access right off I-5.  While there is a pretty nice paid campsite at the lake.  There’s more free dispersed camping with way better views than the paid campsite about a mile down the road here (41.242939, -122.382676).  There are toilets at the Castle Lake day-use parking area and we have camped at the day-use area in the past but wouldn’t recommend it as it was very loud in the morning with all the day-trippers coming to enjoy the lake.  

If you have and watercraft this is the best lake for them.  We have a SUP and an inflatable kayak from Aqua Marina that we really enjoy using.  They are pretty cheap and last we’ve had them for over three years and they are still going strong.  You can check them out here.  

Castle Lake has an awesome floating dock out in the center of the lake that you can get a view of Mt. Shasta and just relax and feel the power of the planet earth’s root chakra.  There is also a waterfall that flows into the lake that you can paddle right up to.  Also if you don't have any watercraft there is an amazing short hike to an epic lookout we have more on this hike here. This is one of our favorite stopovers on our way to and from Oregon if we are driving on I-5.  It’s literally 30 minutes off the road and is such a van life gem.  If you are reading this, consider yourself blessed to have found this obscure article buried deep in the depths of the inter webs.  Happy Trails!  

Pocatello Idaho Rock Climbing & Free Camping

Pocatello Idaho Rock Climbing & Free Camping

The best part of vanlife, hands down, is meeting all the crazy cool kookz along the way.  We met up with our van friends Josh and River aka @leashed_nomads in Pocatello, Idaho, where they call home base.  If we didn't know these guys, we would have blown through Pocatello and missed all the gems this place had to offer.  

Our first stop with the @leashed_nomads was the Sunnyside Climbing Area,  this is an awesome free outdoor climbing area that is basically a climbing gym.  All routes were bolted by the Public Access Fund for the community of Pocatello.  While most routes are sport-climbs, starting from 5.6 and up. This is a great place for beginners and advanced rock climbers to get outside and enjoy a nice free public rock climbing area.  We were so stoked on this crag, we wished every city had a rock climbing park like this.  There’s more climbing also on the other side of the park which is called Shadyside Climbing Area.  Every route can be lead climbed or top-roped making it a great place for all levels.  The climbs are short but the rock is solid.  Before you blow through Pocatello we highly recommend stopping over at this crag.  

There’s also plenty of open space around Pocatello providing plenty of free camping options. Two places we camped out were Blackrock Canyon and Goodenough Creek Campsite.  While Blackrock Canyon is closest to Pocatello, it’s worth the drive out to Goodenough Creek, which had more vegetation for shade, as well as, a creek.  Both campsites have drop toilets and fire pits.  

There’s also a good deal of Mountain biking in the hills around Pocatello but we didn't have time to squeeze that in.  Thanks to Josh and River we got to experience a little bit of what Pocatello has to offer.  We highly recommend making time for a stop over in this adventurous little Idaho town.

Five of the Best Free Camping Areas Near Grand Teton National Park

Five of the Best Free Camping Areas Near Grand Teton National Park

Are you planning a camping trip to Grand Teton National Park?  Having a hard time finding where to camp?  This is a busy park and campsites in the area book quick.  While there is camping available inside the park, it’s first come first served and we’ve seen people in line at 6 am waiting for campers to leave to nab their spots.  You can check camping options inside the park here, but don't be surprised if it's full and overpriced.  However, there is some good news for the desperate camper at GTNP.  There are tons of amazing campsites outside of the park; some are just 30 minutes out while others are an hour or so.  But it’s a National Park and usually to find camping spots around NPs requires a good deal of driving.  Here is a list of our favorite spots around Jackson and the Tetons. 

None of these spots have toilets; so be prepared with a shovel and dispose of your TP properly. I don't want to have to take this post down.  

Shadow Mountain - (43.70418, -110.62170) 

Camping at the base of Shadow Mountain provides incredible views of the Teton range.  All the campsites are at the base of the mountain.  Be careful if it has rained; it can be impassable.  We almost got stuck in some nasty mud leaving one day.  Here at Shadow Mountain, there are probably about 10 spots at the base, these spots will go the fastest.  It sometimes helps to carpool into the park and leave a vehicle at your spot. If you leave your spot it will be gone almost immediately.  There are more options up the mountain and these will provide better views, but the road can be treacherous so enter at your own risk. 

Free National Forest Camping - (43.76777, -110,54171)

This is dispersed camping fairly close to the north entrance of the Tetons.  It’s really just a large dirt lot with more options if you continue to follow the road.  We used this spot as more of a desperation camp when we left the park too late to find a good spot at Shadow Mountain or elsewhere.    The road in is manageable but can be very rutted out so larger older vans will have to take it easy. 

Buffalo Valley - (43.85031, -110,34161)

If you want to escape the madness of the National Parks in this area Buffalo Valley is a great place to boondock for a few days or even weeks.  This is a bit further away but you will be able to find peace and quiet as the other spots are quite overrun.  We stayed out here for a few days and drove into the NP at the north entrance and it was about an hour drive into the Park.  There are plenty of awesome spots; you can even score a spot right on the river.  

Curtis Canyon- (43,52167, -110.62763)

These dispersed campsites are closer to Jackson than they are to GTNP and is a great place to stay if you need a place to camp near Jackson, WY.  The road up to Curtis Canyon starts just east of Jackson and is fairly convenient.  We will note that it’s a very bumpy ride in here, so if you don’t live to take your rig on rough roads you may want to skip this spot.  There are plenty of spots and the views here are incredible. We posted up on top of the mountain for a few days and enjoyed the scenery and peace and quiet before we headed back to the park for some adventures.  We did camp a few nights in Jackson and had no issues, the town seems overran by vans and RVs anyways.  

Granite Creek - (43.31147, -110,45902)

This is an amazing spot worth checking out!  While it’s not really close to GTNP or Jackson, it was one of our favorite places to camp in the area.  The road up Granite Creek is very bumpy but it can be done in any vehicle. We saw plenty of RVs driving this road.  There is also a paid campsite with a hot spring at the top of the road.  We stayed at this place for over a week.  We stopped over after climbing the Hobuck Shield.  The Granite Creek area has lots of recreation options from hiking, fishing, and even kayaking.  We took our buddies pack rafts down the creek a few times and had a blast!  We highly recommend a stopover here just to unwind from the crazy scene that's going down in Jackson every summer.  

There are plenty more options for camping in this corner of Wyoming. We also highly recommend checking out Alpine, WY.  There’s a nice reservoir with plenty of options for camping.  We hope this was helpful!  See you kookz on the road!  

Oregon’s Best Free Camping Near the Highest Hike in Mt. Hood

Sometimes the best campsites are at trailheads.  This sounds odd, but this particular Trailhead/Campsites is one of the coolest places I’ve been to in Oregon.  Up on top of Cloud Cap Road sits Cloud Cap Campground.  The Cloud Cap was an old hotel that now serves as an epic car camping spot.  There’s plenty of access to amazing hiking and mountaineering from the Cloud Cap Camping Area.  We ended up camping out for a few nights here.  It gets crazy on the weekends so you’ve been warned we had the place to ourselves until Saturday morning.  

Aside from the awesome camping site with volcano views and milky way dust, there are some awesome trails right out your slider door.  Our favorite trail was Cooper Spur.  This is a 5.5-mile hike with over 3,000 vertical feet of climbing.  The climb is worth it.  The turn around for most people is once you get on top of the Cooper Spur.  We saw lots of people backpacking up here on the weekend and there are some amazing sites up on the spur and below at the rock shelter.  If the campsite is full throw your tent in your backpack and head on up the mountain.  

Big Sky Country - Free Camping, Mountain Biking and Fun Easy Hikes!

Montana has some amazing open spaces and offers plenty of opportunity for Overlanding and getting lost on a forest road.  Or,  You could park up at Big Sky Ski Area for a few days and enjoy some flush toilets and mountain activities.  We were told by an employee at Big Sky Ski Area that we could camp up to four days in the parking lot. So we did a nice parking lot shuffle for a few days and found some nice things to do to keep us entertained.  

Beehive Basin

Beehive Basin is a 7.1 Mile Moderately Trafficked Out and Back through some pretty cool terrain and has a really cool alpine lake at the end of the trail.  It has some pretty sweet views up here as well.  It’s one of the more busy trails in the area so hit the trail early to ensure a parking spot.   

Mountain to Meadow Mountain Biking

From your campsite in the parking lot, you will be able to ride your bike over to the lifts.  However, there’s no need to buy a lift ticket to ride Big Sky Resort, thanks to the town shuttle that drives you back to the top after a screamer of a run down some premier downhill.  You’ll start by climbing next to the Ramcharger lift.  You’ll climb up for about 1.5 miles before you start a long flowy descent with berms and jumps all the way down to the town of Big Sky.  From here, you'll want to head to Fire Pit Park, where you can catch the free mountain shuttle back up to the Ski Area Base where you started.  You can lap this a few times since the uphill is fairly easy.  Make sure to grab a shuttle schedule or check it out here!  

Lake Levinsky 

On your down days you can bring your van a stone’s throw away from your previous parking lot down to Lake Levinsky for a relaxing day by the lake.  If you have a SUP this is a good place to take it out there is also portable toilets at the lake.  

Free Camping in Stanley Idaho on the Salmon River

Free Camping in Stanley Idaho on the Salmon River

Stanley Idaho, Population 63 is a rugged mountain town situated right smack dab in the middle of the Sawtooth Mountains.  This town has a lot going on from white water rapids to picturesque mountain lakes, and plenty of hiking and backpacking for the more adventurous type.  Per usual, we were here to do it all, and most importantly spend as little money as possible.  Luckily there are tons of options for free camping in Idaho, most sites even have drop toilets to really make you feel like a 5-star dirtbag.  We found this awesome little site right on the salmon river (44.171831, -114.905370).  It was just a few minutes ways from Redfish Lake a camping hotspot that’s expensive and overran with Grizwald kooks!  

We spent a few days at this free river campsite while we enjoyed all the splendor that Stanley has to offer.  We paddled around Little Redfish lake for a day with our van friends.  We also went on a nice short easy hike to Fishhook Creek. This is a very chill hike that takes you to an amazing viewpoint of the Sawtooth Mountains, we recommend this short hike it was very quiet on the trail.  

The highlight of the Stanley experience was soaking in the Boat Box hot springs.  This is one of the coolest Hot Springs we have ever been to.  So nice that we went twice!  This spring is situated on the Salmon River in a large steel bowl that holds about 4 people, you can control the temperature pretty easy and if it gets too hot you can take a dip in the cold Salmon River.  If you hit the springs in the summer expect to wait your turn as it’s a popular spot.  We took our vans and waited on the side of the road and made breakfast while others soaked.  Stanley can get pretty crazy in the summer so stick to the kookz tips to avoid the Grizwalds out there. 

Ladder Canyon, California's best Slot Canyon

This is another California desert gem that we weren't really expecting to be as amazing as it is.  Ladder Canyon is dubbed California’s best slot canyon it’s the first we've seen in Cali so we give it two thumbs up!  If you are looking for Ladder Canyon just google it and it will lead you in the right direction no need for 4WD to access the trailhead we did it in a 2WD VW Vanagon so anyone can make it.  Ladder Canyon is on BLM land so there is a 14 day camping limit, there are drop toilets on site but they are a walk so bring a shovel.  We decided to camp right at the mouth of the canyon and it was a great place to spend a few days exploring the area.  

The Ladder Canyon hike is a 4.5 mile hike that can be done in a loop.  When starting the hike keep a keen eye to hikers left where you will begin the journey up the first slot canyon.  Navigating this section requires a bit of rope climbing and there is what I would call a V0 bouldering problem that some in our group struggled with.  With a boost and a hand we were on our way past this section.  Once you top out of this canyon you will very exposed to wind and sun above the eroded desert landscape, this is where ample water and sun protection will be needed.  We were here in February and needed plenty of water along this stretch of the hike.  If you are here in the summer it’s going to be a scorcher so be prepared!  

Once you top out you can hike to the summit for amazing views of the desert or you can begin navigating your way down ladder canyon.  You will drop down into a canyon and eventually come up on a series of ladders to help you get down into the slot canyon this is where the canyon gets the most narrow and really gives you that Utah/Arizona slot canyon feel.  You will exit back into the large canyon you started in.  There are more off shoots all around this area and you may need more that a day to explore all this area has to offer.  

Remember when camping to pack it in, and pack it out.  Lets keep these amazing BLM areas natural.  Happy Trails! 

New Jack City Camping and Climbing

We got the opportunity to jump on board a climbing trip with Lee (@freedomthevanbulance) and Steve (@freetired) there was no way we were going to turn this adventure down.  New Jack City (aka Sawtooth Canyon) is a sport climbing playground just a few miles outside of Barstow, California.  New Jack City has over 450 sport climbs varying from 5.6 to 5.13 on a volcanic like metamorphic rock.   All the climbs are found in clusters of awesome formations poking out along the high desert of California.  Since we are beginner climbers this was a great area to get our feet wet.

Prior to this trip we solely top roped, thanks to our talented climbing friends leading all the routes.  But this trip was different thanks to the expertise of Steve and Lee we were going to learn to top rope, clean, and repel.  I don't think the atmosphere could have been more perfect we were able to park our van right at the base of a 5.6 and get lessons out our front door.  Most of the routes here are short and exposure usually isn't an issue so it was a great place to learn without being absolutely petrified.  

One of the highlights of the trip was climbing “The Crooked Dick Spire” which was our first ever spire to climb and at 5.9 it wasn't too difficult to the whole crew got to top the spire.  One of our favorite things about New Jack City is that every zone had plenty of climbs for the whole crew to do.  Another good wall for learning was the “Boy Scout Wall” which had climbs of varying difficulties from 5.7 to 5.11c all the climbs on this wall were fun solid climbs and we couldn't recommend New Jack City more for camping and climbing.  

The camping here is also as awesome as the rock climbing.  There are shade structures at most the campsites along with pit toilets.  This is on BLM land so there is a 14 night limit.  We really enjoyed climbing right outside of the vans every morning after it warmed up.  We came in early march and it was still a bit chilly mid 50s but that didn't stop the kooks from crushing some routes.  

Free Camping Near Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and the 9th deepest lake in the world.

The lake is contained within a Caldera created by a volcano that erupted and then collapsed in on it self. The lake is not a typical lake, filled by rivers or streams. All the water that is inside the lake came from rain, snow, or snow melt, which makes it one of the cleanest large bodies of water in the world. I always knew this fact, but it wasn’t until I got there that I found out that you could actually hike down to the water, touch it, and even swim in it if you wanted, via Cleetwood Cove trail. But beware, Cleetwood Cove trail is known to be steep and strenuous. The hike back to the top is equivalent to climbing 65 flights of stairs, so it is marked for hikers that are pretty physically fit. This trail is open mid-June to October. There are vault bathrooms at the start and bottom of the trail. 

While there are over 90 miles of hiking trails in the Crater Lake National Park, you can also chose to drive the rim of the crater, if hiking isn’t your thing. There are plenty of easy trails and or look outs along the East and West Rim Drive. Plaikni Falls seems like a pretty chill walk thru an old growth forrest to a waterfall that is also fed by snowmelt, not Crater Lake, as one would expect. 

We chose to do the Garfield Peak trail. It is a 3.6 mile (round trip) rocky hike to the top of Garfield Peak where you will have panoramic views, above the crater, at summit. Most of the hike gets more and more scenic, the higher you go on the trail. We are moderately fast hikers and it took us 31 minutes to summit and 40 minutes to get down. The hike recommends allowing yourself 2-3 hours for the entire hike.  

Difficulty of this hike:

It is marked as “Strenuous,” which, I think, keeps most people off of the trail. We saw maybe 10 people on the trail, which is a stark difference from the groups of tourists we saw getting off buses near the Crater Lake Lodge and Gift Shop. 

While this hike climbs 1,010 feet in elevation over 1.7 miles, I didn’t think it was too strenuous. Maybe it was my racing the sun attitude, as we decided to jump on this trail pretty late in the afternoon, as soon as we spotted Garfield Peak. However hard it was, the reward at the top, seclusion along the trail, and the views all along the trail definitely made any difficulty or struggle worth it. If that sounds good to you and you are still worried about the “strenuous” label, there are plenty of pull-offs, with rock benches to sit on and take in the view and catch your breath. 

Free Camping Near Crater Lake:

There are no free campsites inside the National Park, but the Sno-park’s on the North and South entrance of the boundary is free camping in the Summer months. There are vault toilets at each spot. 

We camped at the North Crater Lake Trail Head Sno-Park, which is also apparently a PCT parking lot. There are vault toilets here and picnic tables. There are no views as it is amongst the trees off HWY-138, but it is so quiet. We were there with two other vans, but you could hardly tell as we all had our own little tree coves to pull into. 

We checked out the Annie Creek Sno-Park, the South Entrance free camping, off of the 62, going into Crater Lake National Park. There were a couple of 5th wheels and tents at the end of the huge parking lot. It looked to have views, if we were headed back south, we would have stayed here for the views. 

Free Camping in Sedona, Arizona

Free Camping in Sedona 

We park and camp at the same spot every time we come to Sedona. There are no free camping areas inside Sedona, but there are some scattered just outside, with a stay allowance of 14 days. There is free camping on Schnebily Hill, but I’ve heard that it is difficult to get to, but worth the views. The Free Dispersed Camping just off Arizona SR 89A and Forest 525 road is the only one I can speak for. Apparently this is an alternate launch site for a Sedona balloon tour company, so breakfast views sometimes come with some nearby balloon landings.  

Be prepared to share this site. The first couple pull offs are usually occupied by quite a bit of trailers and motor homes every time we come. You can drive further down the road for quieter more solo sites, we’ve done that for tent camping. And when we were sick of camping with the cavemen and their loud ass generators, we went as far as we could down Forest Road 525. The views get better the further down 525 you go. Some spots are right up in the red hills below Bear Mountain and they are totally secluded and actually feels like camping or quiet off the grid living. 

Mountain Biking in Sedona

In the morning after you’ve cooked up a breakfast, head in towards Sedona for some mountain biking or hiking. There are heaps of trails just off Dry Creek Rd. 

We hoped on the 7.6 mile Chuck Wagon loop. It is a hike/bike trail. For us, it was walk-a-bike in a few sections, but it was an overall really fun ride. There was enough flow-y, fun, and technical sections to make you forget any bumpy technical climb you may have just endured. It is definitely one of my favorite trails. The views are all time. 

We took in the views from our pull off parking spot and snacked in the van. Since we had not been around wi-fi, we headed into the restaurant area to find a Starbucks or some place with free wifi. We hung outside of a pizza place to send some emails and make contact with the outside world. 

Once we were up to speed and wi-fi’d out, we headed back towards Forest 525 Road to cook some food and catch some z’s. 

Aeire Trail/Cockscomb trail - After being pumped about the Chuck Wagon trail, we wanted to try some others, although we were really tempted to do it again. 

We decided to try the Aeire Trail linked with the Cockscomb trail to creat the Aeire Loop, it does a 5.4 mile loop around around Doe Mountain. It was pretty chunky, but makes a nice short loop if you are short on time or if you are a eager beginner that wants a trail with some rewarding reviews. We saw people doing this trail with bike lamps at night. They were flying thru there.  Made me want to get some bright ass lights and try some night biking!

After the loop around Doe Mountain, we made some food in the van and looked for a hiking trail to cap off the afternoon. We checked out our REI Hiking app and saw two nearby that looked interesting: Bear Mountain and Boyton Canyon. They were both about 2.4-2.6 miles, one-way. Since the Boyton Canyon hike seemed to just hike gradually up thru the canyon, instead of straight up a mountain, we decided to do that one, since we weren’t really mentally prepared or ready to hike down a crumbly mountain in the dark. We would leave that hike for the next day.

Boyton Canyon Hike - Boyton Canyon was beautiful. At the beginning of the trail, it looked like you were hiking into a secret city. There were mind blowing houses and vacation properties, with stucco to match the hill sides they were so efficiently nestled into. There were views of the canyons for about the first 1.5 miles, then the tree canopy kind of takes away the views of the hill sides pretty much until you reach the End of Trail sign. The hike was more like a stroll, and where the “end of trail” sign is, it kind of invites you to find your own view. If you follow a little goat path to the right of that sign, it leads you up to a ledge where you can over look the canyon valley you just hiked thru. You return the same way you came in. 

Twin Buttes Loop - At this point our stoke level is high with Sedona, we want to do everything. So we figure we need to get on our bikes to see things faster. Even if we have to walk-a-bike in sections, if we can ride partial parts of the trail, we are into it. So we hoped on the Twin Buttes loop. This was a hike/bike trail. It was pretty epic, like every part of it was up until Chicken Point. Then, it was just alright. Parts of the trail go thru neighborhoods on the pavement. It is just kind of bizarre that it is part of the same loop as the first couple epic miles of Broken Arrow. 

The only lame part about this loop was all the pink jeeps EVERYWHERE, at every single vista. I found them to be very annoying. I didn’t mind the Duck tours in Seattle or other big cities, because it was chaos everywhere in cities and when one of those things comes squawking by with their obnoxious blab pointing out stuff, it just blended in with all the city noise, but bloody hell, they are just obnoxious out in nature. 

They would come one right after the other. As soon as you thought, “oh this is the time I can go and sneak a picture before anyone else is around,” or just take a breath and enjoy the silence I was trying to escape to, here comes another over-enthusiastic dude romping over some hillside to turn his jeep around, precisely where you are standing. Even when the Pink Jeep tours weren’t around giving tours, they were giving instruction to new members of the team. Letting them practice on the obstacles before they bring paying customers aboard. I wonder if this bothers the hell out of the locals. I really can’t imagine this place during busy season, if that is the way it is in February. 

All my personal annoyances aside, the views are worth the hike, bike, or hike-a-bike. When we were done with the loop, we cooked some food, strapped on our hiking boots, grabbed some head torches and hiked the Broken Arrow section again. That is how awesome the views were. This time, we had it all to ourselves, as we saw the last Pink Jeep Roll out past the mostly empty parking lot. It was so quiet, I felt I could hear the static of silence. 

Bear Mountain -On this day, we got a late start. We couldn’t decide if we wanted to take the day off or go enjoy Sedona before the weekend hit and the Phoenix weekend warriors come up. We decided we better get out there. So we cooked a nice brunch, packed up camp, and parked up at the Bear Mountain trail head. We got on the trail about 2:45pm, just enough time to chill, see the sunset and probably hike the last part out in the dark. 

Most people don’t like hiking in the dark, but we find it to be a great trade-off to have the spot to yourself. We leave enough time for the easiest part of the walk to be mostly in the dark. The hike estimated time is 4.5 hours. It took us 1:35 to get to the top and about the same to get down. If we didn’t stop to take pictures every 5 steps, we may have been able to do it faster. 

The hike starts out pretty easy as it slowly starts to get crumblier. Then, you start to climb to get up top of that plateau, and then climb, dip down and then climb some more. It flattens out enough after each hard climb to catch your breath before the next climb. Sometimes you have to use your hands to pull yourself over some sections. It is exactly 2.4 miles from entry to end of trail sign. 

At the top, we hung out and tried to place where we were from our usual campsite. We spotted many RVs and campers so close to the rocks, we were curious as to what road they were parked, because those spots looked epic, secluded, and so far from those noisy ass generators we had been camping next to. From up on Bear Mountain, we realized you could take that same road all the way to the end and we would hit Forest Road 525, the road you can camp on for up to 14 days, free. So we started our hike down, with plans on finding our own secluded campsite. Although we found our spot in the dark, we woke up to a pretty epic views. 

Because you are hiking with your back to most of the views as you are climbing the trail, the entire way down is so picturesque. We literally stopped so often, just to take in the views. The view from any summit is rewarding, when you make the effort to get to the top, but I felt like the summit views weren’t as amazing as the rest of the hikes views. I am only mentioning this because if you were tired, and didn’t feel like you could finish the entire hike then, any of the vistas that you pass on the trail will make up for not making it to the top. So don’t beat yourself up if you can’t make it to the top. Just take in the views.

4 Outdoor Activities to Enjoy in and Around Boulder, Colorado

After shooting the GoPro Mountain Games in Vail.  We headed down to Boulder for a visit with one of our best friends.  We just had a few days and really wanted to get after it while we were in Colorado.  

Bear Peak

We wanted to get used to the altitude and get in better hiking shape before we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park later in the week.  We went with Bear Peak a 7.7 mile out and back hike to the highest point in the Flat Irons.  This hike is rated difficult and is a climb all the way to the top, and was a great warm up to the high country and getting adjusted to the altitude.  

Valmont Bike Park and Antelope Trail

We discovered the Valmout Mountain Bikepark on this day and fell in love.  We went in the morning before the summer camps showed up.  This is an amazing place for beginners, and advanced riders to develop skills we rode about 5 miles in the park alone.  Later we headed out to ride a few trails out near Lyons.  We rode the Antelope Trail and connected with Nelson Loop for some flowy single track with amazing views.  This was a fun ride with some big climbs and descents.  

Chasm Lake

We woke up feeling a bit sore but it was a great day to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park.  It’s a short scenic cruise from Boulder.  Since it was summer the was very busy.  We didn’t want to deal with the crowds plus the day before the NPS was saying that all the parking was full and they weren't letting people in the park.  Knowing this we headed to the lesser used and free (if you don't have a parks pass) Longs Peak Trailhead, near Estes Park.  Earlier in the week we were considering Longs Peak but we decided to do a more mellow hike.  We went with the Chasm Lake Trail.  This is a 8.2 mile out and back trail that is rated moderate to difficult.  We really enjoyed this trail and this was the highlight of the trip.  After we finished the hike we headed down for a night in the Subaru.  I would tell you where but it was so  out there I don't even know where it was.  With this being said there is plenty of camping available on Forest Roads in the area.  

National Forest Camping

We woke up and took it easy ate breakfast and enjoyed the sunshine for a bit before heading back down to boulder.  We just took it easy this day visited a few dispensaries and rode the Valmont Bikepark again that evening.  We later biked over to Avery Brewery for a few of the local selections before calling it a night.

On the last day we spent a majority of this day on our bikes.  We headed over to the bikepark, in the morning.  Then spent the rest of the day checking out boulder and its large array of bike trails and headed up to the top of the Boulder Creek Trail.  If we were more prepared and had known we would have brought our tubes and wetsuits for what looked like a wild tube ride down the Boulder Creek.  Later that night we headed to Fresh Thymes for some vegan cuisine.  

Boulder is an incredible little town that has a lot to offer.  We will definitely be back. 

The Great Sand Dunes National Park - Free Camping

Nestled on the western side of the 14,000 ft peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains lies the Great Sand Dunes National Park.  These sand dunes are the tallest sand dunes in North America, at 750 feet high.  We decided to stop by the dunes on the way up to Vail for an overnight stop, on the way up HWY 285.  

The Dunes are about an hour detour from Alamosa, off highway 285, and it is worth every minute.  Upon arrival, the dunes are much more larger than I expected.  We made our first stop at the first empty picnic area and prepared a quick diner before venturing off on the dunes for sunset.  There are no hiking trails on the dunes so you can basically go wherever you want.  It’s an incredible place for photography.  It's a very surreal place walking around in what seems like the Sahara Desert surrounded by 14,000ft peaks all around.  

This is a very light used national park so you won't have to worry about hoards of people everywhere.  After the visit, I read that this is one of the quietest parks in the US.  However the night we were there, the Pinon Flats campground was completely full.  So we ended up sleeping in the car in the lower parking lot and had no trouble.  We woke up for sunrise and continued the journey to Vail.  

Besides hiking around and photographing, we discovered that there are also a few hike in camp sites at Buck Creek and Escape Dunes.  Also, you can receive overnight camping permits and camp on the dunes.  There is also a 4x4 track that leads to Little Medano Campground.  

The GSDNP is a great place to spend multiple days at or just a few hours.  It’s a great park with some incredible scenery.  

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