Tuesday 8-29-23 Hiking Bod Fish and Turquoise Lake Trails & Camping

 

Camping at Matchless Campground

We're still camping at Matchless Campground and will be here until after Labor Day. This morning we moved from campsite #6 to campsite #7. This new site is on an end ensuring we will only have other campers on one side of us, it's also bigger, has more privacy, has a view of the lake and we get more solar. It's farther from the bathroom, public water and trails but I need the steps. It gorgeous with a lot of pine trees. So far there have only been about four campers in our campground but the host says it should be full by Wednesday night.

We woke up to weather in the high 40s and it got into the low 70s. We had a beautiful day with a lot of sunshine.

I slept until 7:30. Larry said good morning and I decided to get up. I made pancakes for breakfast. Then we moved the Minnie. Afterwards we went on a 5 mile hike. We started from the campground and walked the road about .5 mile and picked up the multi-purpose trail (bikers, hikers and horseback riders). We hiked this section to the trailhead sign for Bod Fish trail and Fallen Trees trail. We did Bod Fish trail, it was a 3 mile loop. The trail was mainly in the open but we did hike through the forest now and then. We saw deer (three Does and one fawn). They kept their distances but they did stop to look at us. I took a picture of one of them. It was hard to take pictures because they were in the trees. The doe and fawn ran across the trail in front of us. I guess I should say they hopped across the trail to the trees. We were the only hikers but we did see a couple of bicyclists. They were coming the opposite direction, which was very nice because we could see them and get off the trail. They came upon a rock and the guy went around it but the lady went off it. She made a very smooth landing. We said hi to them. We saw some chipmunks and squirrels. We rested now and then. We had a great hike.

We are at a very high elevation, almost 10,000 feet. This makes hiking and breathing a bit more challenging. We have to make sure to take rest stops and Larry keeps reminding me I should be drinking more water. De-hydration can be a real concern at these elevations. 

Pike-San Isabel National Forest

 

Chipmunk enjoy breakfast

View of the mountains from the trail

 

 Deer checking us out at the beginning of the hike

When we got back to our site we setup the solar panels. They are doing an excellent job of keeping everything charged. Then we had sandwiches for lunch. 

I changed my mind, I will play some of the Solitaire games. I played the Daily Challenges and the Event, which was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 54 minutes and 24 seconds, which put me in 23rd place in my group. I played Daily Challenge from today and yesterday. I played the Daily Challenge of Mahjong from today and yesterday.

My game playing was a bit interrupted. We lost the internet for quite a few hours. It is not unusual for it to disappear for 20 to 30 minutes but this time it must have been out for 5 or 6 hours.

Larry enjoyed the sunshine and read in his chair.

Larry barbecued Hatch sausage burgers for dinner. We hadn't had them in a long time because we don't shop at HEB that often. I also think the Hatch chilies are seasonal. It took Larry a long time to barbecue them because the grill kept going out, he thinks it's because of the elevation. I warmed up a couple of tortillas on the stove to put the patties on. Dinner was delicious. 

After dinner we went on another hike, this one was on Turquoise Lake trail to the dam. The hike was 2 miles round trip. It was a beautiful hike through the trees with a little elevation change. As we hiked we saw a lot of people on the trail. They were riding bicycles (some were e-bikes), jogging with their dogs and alone and hiking like us. We hiked by the day use area, which was very nice because it was on the mountainside and in the trees. We saw people enjoying the lake. They were floating in their tubes, paddle boarding, swimming, kayaking and fishing. It was a wonderful hike.

Paddle Boarding on the lake

Enjoying the lake

Dog and masters enjoying a nice swim

When we got home I did a water run. While doing so I stopped to visited with some of our neighbors. I ended up doing 19,500 steps, which put me in 5th in my group. I did most of the steps with Larry. 

We had a super day.