On the way to Rock Mountain National Park

Colorado Homestead

We've taken a few rest days after 3 weeks of climbing. Our bodies and minds needed it. The next major destination is Rocky Mountain National Park but we've taken the scenic way to get there. Currently we are in Granby, CO which is on the south-westside of the park. Our last post was from Cripple Creek. Since then we've been to 3 free campsites in national forests. It's been a beautiful drive and we've seen some amazing rock climbing areas in the South Platte of Colorado. It's unfortunate that we didn't climb but sometimes even with rock around it's best to just take pictures and pass it by. We stayed just north of Florissant Colorado Wednesday night,

South Platte Granite

Sheeps Rock

South Platte River

Flowers

near Jefferson Colorado the following night,

Duck Moon

Busy Beavers

Beaver Pond

Ducky

 and last night we camped about 30 minutes south-west of Hot Sulphur Springs, Co.

How High? The Van breaks into the Ozone near Breckenridge.

We had our first equipment issue of the trip this morning. Our solar panel blew over in a strong wind gust and is cracked probably beyond repair, the glass is completely spiderwebbed. Surprisingly the panel is still putting out over 50% of its normal output, which is pretty cool, but we're sure we'll need to replace it at a minimum cost of $280. So much for being under budget, but alas these are things that will happen.

Today is laundry day and tomorrow we head into the Park. Should have some cool photos to post by sometime next week. After that we'll be in Boulder, Co with our friend Mike Loh.

Trees in beaver pond

A falcon searches for its breakfast while we have ours.