camping

time to leave the youth hostel and start the camping part of the trip. We drove down to Estes park.

Kenneth pointed out a tornado. Was actually what was coming out of the back of a combine harvester. Our trip to safeway for supplies turned into a mission. I'm not sure we'll ever know how we spent 150 bucks on snacks for 3 days. Even longer was spent on the erection of the tents.

Hopefully that gets a bit quicker with practise. We were lucky enough to meet a lovely ranger who planned out our 3 days of hikes, taking account of our age, fitness level, and what altitude we'd flown in on. Hoff still thought Long's Peak was a goer, but we agreed to go with her recommendations at least to start with. This started with a hike to 3 different lakes. Not too long, not too much uphill, just to get us acclimatised. It was quite a shock. The effects of the altitude are very strong. It doesn't take long at all before your chest actually starts burning. Rather disconcerting when there's kids and elderly people on the same hike.

In true car camping spirit, we found a Nepalese Indian restaurant for dinner. Our big plans for going out for a few beers in the evening were once again hit by food coma. First night in a tent with Kenneth. No real complaints, except regretting the Flying Horse at the Indian. Would have been nice to get through the night without having to make the trip to the toilet.