Day 22- Chalk Creek

October 6^th 2010 Day 22 Wednesday

We woke up this morning on the border of Pike National Forest, laughed a bit about the night before and hitched up the trailer to the truck so we could get the battery charged again. Without the battery we weren’t able to power the fridge so we hustled to get on the road so it wouldn’t go bad.

We drove only until we reached Nathrop, Colorado in the early afternoon when we decided to settle in for the night early on so we could get our affairs in order, clean a bit, read and write, etc. We found a really cute campground right on a creek called the Chalk Creek Campground. A husband and wife team ran the facility and it looked absolutely gorgeous with the aspens in full autumn colors, the leaves starting to drift down to the ground, creating a smooth blanket of yellows and oranges. Hanz was incredibly excited to once again be near some running water. When we arrived it was a beautiful, blue and sunny afternoon and for the most part it stayed that way, except a couple hours later a small storm blew by. All of a sudden it was incredibly windy and the blue sky was covered with menacingly dark storm clouds. For a brief period of time, probably about 15 minutes, it poured down with such ferocity coupled with equally intense winds that I was afraid our trailer would be pushed into the creek and float away. Of course that didn’t happen and before we knew it the sky had opened up into a cheerful blue and the winds had subsided. Were it not soaking wet outside you might have thought you had imagined the whole thing!

Our campsite on Chalk Creek

The mountains surrounding Nathrop and the few other towns close by were huge and gorgeous, as mountains often are. I doubt I could ever tire of looking at a mountain range. There are always new things to notice, even with a mountain that you're very familiar with. Thinking about how much variance there is in how mountains form starts to really make sense when you notice how different ranges can be from one another. Some, as I've talked about previously, like the Tetons, jut out from the earth, their youth made evident by their jagged peaks which have not been around long enough for weathering to dull them. Others have many foothills that look as though they were formed in the aftershock of a mountain jutting up towards the sky; they are the ripples that coursed through the earth for miles and miles. 

The Mountains near Nathrop, CO

The only two annoying things about the Chalk Creek RV Park were that it was definitely overpriced for what it provided and considering that it’s the off-season right now, and the fact that the showers are coin operated! You have to pay more money just to use one of their not-so-wonderful showers!! You would step into the stall and insert your quarters and realize that they had a maximum 15 minute time limit on any showers… WHAT?! Showers at this point in the trip are not merely a place to get clean but also a place to just stand for a few quiet moments with comfortably hot water cascading all around you. This shower not only had a time limit but the shower, when activated, emitted a high pitched squeal that stayed around for the duration of your showering. Oy vey! Major points got deducted from this place after that experience, let me tell you!