July 7-8: Rio Grande National Forest, somewhere in Colorado

We woke up this morning in Alabaster Caverns and began breaking down the campsite. All was quiet while people slept, with the exception of a young boy named Grant. Grant was there with a "friend" Perry. We think that it was some sort of Big Brothers type of program for kids with disabilities because Grant exhibited all signs of some sort of mental disability. He strolled on up and greeted us with a cheery and loud "Gooooood Morning." They were looking for firewood for a morning fire and we happily directed them to an area where we had found ours...then he spotted the perfect marshmallow roaster stick carefully tucked among our things and asked if he could have it. Sara explained that it was her super duper marshmallow roasting stick, Grant wanted it anyway. But Sara is a big pushover and gave it to him. I'm almost positive that it ended up in the fire...it was a sad morning indeed.

Then we were off to San Luis State Park in Colorado. Hours and hours of driving later, we arrived whereupon we promptly renamed it San Sucky and took off in search of a better place. San Luis was flat and desert-like and was an uncomfortable place before we even pitched camp, there was no way in hell that we were going to stay there for two whole days. So we drove on, and on, and on and on. We finally went into a little grocery store (I have no idea where we were as we had completely veered off the route for the day). We were close to the Rio Grande Forest in southern Colorado and went eerily into the wilderness.

The air was cold and damp in the forest as the rain of a recent storm has subsided. It was five miles from the park entrance to the actual campgrounds and the gravel road meandered in and out of the mountain valleys. The scent was beautiful, it smelled like Christmas trees as there were Blue Spruce and Douglas Fur trees everywhere. It took my breath away as I hung my head out of the window and took in every detail, the scent, the sound of the forest, the view. It was one of those moments that engrain themselves in your memory and makes you smile whenever thought of.

We found a great little campsite where a few families had set-up and pitched camp. We had an amazing view of a lake and the mountains and had our very own cliff to perch ourselves on, it was breathtaking. We gathered a ton of firewood for the night and we began prepping for dinner. It was rainy, and damp, then the temperature dropped about 30 degrees as night fell. We put on multiple layers of clothing but froze our asses off anyway, praying for the morning sun.

Oh, I almost forgot...there were no shower facilities and instead of a modern toilet, there was an outhouse!!! I'm totally serious. I guess as out houses go it was probably a decent one, but the stench was something I will NEVER forget. It was a regular toilet that was inside of a small rectangular room, but instead of any pipes there was a giant pit dug underneath it that was a good 10 feet deep. Sara and me both gave it a shot, but we both ended up gagging and decided going somewhere in the woods was a safer bet. We earned our "potty in the woods" badge. I must say though that it was so freaking cold out and there were so many three-leaved plants around (presumably poison ivy) that neither of us wanted to bare any uneccesary skin to the elements. I'm happy to report that we managed to not get frost bite or a poison ivy throughout this process. :)

On a side note, the two days we spent here blurred together so I'm not sure what happened and when. Haha, seriously, I'm clueless!