This looks like it’s going to be a victorious tale about man vs. fish.  But it’s not…
Mike and I had been attempting to catch fish for the last 6 weeks without success.  We were so desperate that when a 6 year old boy told us about salmon roe and powerbait, we ran out to the store the next day and bought some.  For those who don’t know, salmon roe is obviously fish eggs that are baited to a hook.  Powerbait is glitter covered playdoh in neon colors with a fishy scent.  Trout have keen eyesight, and know to avoid a hook if they see one (according to Wikipedia or some other internet source we read from).  By molding the powerbait over the hook, the trout swallows the glow-in-the-dark bait whole.

Well, let me tell you…powerbait works.  After only a few minutes Mike almost had his first catch ever!  He caught a fish, but just as he almost had it reeled in, the line broke.  So, technically he hasn’t caught anything.  I threw my reel in and fairly quickly caught this fish pictured above.  This is where the tragedy comes in…

Once we got the fish out of the water, we weren’t sure what to do.  We weren’t going to keep it, it looked too small.  Because the fish was flapping around, Mike couldn’t get a grip on it, and now Mike’s hands are flapping around, and were both looking panicked about what to do next.  And he says accusingly, “I thought you knew what to do once you catch a fish.  You’ve been doing this all your life.”  My thought was, “Dad, can you unhook my fish?”  I’ve never unhooked a fish in my life, that’s what dads do for their little girls growing up.  So, even with with Mike flapping his hands and all jittery, we finally get the fish on the ground, but can’t see the hook.  The rainbow trout swallowed the hook so far that it’s in the back of its throat.  I can’t seem to get my fingers down by the hook, the fish is now starting to bleed, and so we decide to cut the line, and toss the little guy back in the water.  But it floats to the top.  OH, NO.  It’s dead.  And now on this beautiful lake, there is a dead fish floating on the water.

So we decide to try to hide the evidence of our killing.  Using the end of our fishing pole, we try to bring it back to shore.  But some how the fish gets submerged, and stays underwater.  We wait for it to float back up, but it doesn’t.  After a while, we resume fishing, but are afraid.  We are afraid our dead fish might reappear, and we are afraid we might catch and kill another fish.  After 20 minutes the stress becomes too unbearable, and we head back to our camper– we might have had vegetarian curry that night.

From Leadville, we drove on smaller roads through a few mountain passes to get to the Crested Butte region.  It was a beautiful drive, green pine and aspen filled mountains littered with wildflowers.  It’s green everywhere except at the peaks where the mountains snow has yet to melt, like at the top of the Cottonwood Pass.  Eventually, the peaks, pines and flowers give way to a peaceful, serene Lake Irwin.  It kind of feels like you discovered something or stumbled on a little treasure.  I should keep this little place to myself, but it’s too good not to share.  There is a campground here, with about 20 campsites (a few are right on the water).  This by far was my favorite place to stay this whole trip.

We met my brother and his family in Leadville, Colorado (about an hour south of Vail, Co.) for a few more days of camping.  Molly Brown Campground is a nice, shaded campground with plenty of tall pines, and lots of privacy.  Although our campsite wasn’t right on Turquoise Lake, there were plenty of spots that were.
While there we went canoeing on Twin Lakes, tried our hand (unsuccessfully) at fishing, grilled on the open fire, and ate roasted smores.  Two days of camping is the max. limit of days for my brother, at which time we split up.  They headed north towards Denver, and Mike and I headed west in search of a shower.  I guess you could say our one limitation without a shower in our Scamp, is that every few days we have to figure out how we are going to get clean.

This campground offers both rv sites and tent camping.  Tent camping is located off a trail and is private.  If you are tent camping, this is the place to do it.  There are several trails that surround the campground.  They are all easy, short hikes.

The above photo was much of our view of the lake.  Sadly, the mountain pine beetles have done their damage on the pines at Steamboat Springs Lake.  The park is in the process of cutting down the dead trees, and are planning to replant 18o0 trees this year.  The loss of the trees also means, there is little shade or shelter.  We stayed two nights; our first evening we got drenched in a hail and rain storm, and the temperature dropped to 36′F.

 The morning however, turned out to be sunny and beautiful.  We spent the day fishing without any luck.  The night would have been perfect, if not for the swarms of gnats everywhere.

Before we officially set off for our camping adventure, we stopped off in Fort Collins, Colorado to visit with my brother’s family.  It was filled with non-stop activities that Kyra and Aiden are involved in…swim meets, tennis practice, soccer games and baseball games.  The week culminated with a pinata party, as Kyra also turned 8 years old and celebrated with 10 of her closest girlfriends.

We wrapped up our visit with family by camping in the Poudre River at the Big South campsite, a small campground, about two hours northwest of Ft. Collins.  The Big South is situated between the Cache La Poudre River on one side, and the main road on the other.  Eventhough camping road-side doesn’t sound appealing, this campsite still offers a good amount of privacy once it got dark.

After almost 3 months on and off in Philadelphia, Mike and I loaded up the car and headed west out to Colorado.  Our plan is to spend a month in Colorado and SKI!  We’ll also see my brother and his family throughout the month, so it should be an awesome December.