Wednesday 8-30-23 Camping, Hiking & Bike Ride

 

Beautiful day at Matchless

According to our weather application the temperature this morning was 42 degrees.

Last night before I went to bed I took a few cinnamon rolls out of the freezer so we could have them for breakfast. This morning I woke up to a smell of the cinnamon rolls being baked. Larry always gets up at 6:00 so he had turned on the heater and oven so when I woke up I would have fresh rolls. 

Our oven in the Minnie is great except it's very unpredictable. Sometimes it works perfect at the suggested time and temperature, other times you have to cook at a lower temperature and time. We bought a pizza stone many years ago and it helps a lot with the oven baking more evenly.  I still keep an eye on items I bake. This morning I checked the cinnamon rolls and while they should have had to bake longer they were actually done and came out perfect. Cooking with propane and changing elevations makes the oven work differently. All of our owners manuals for our propane devices indicate that if you are at too high of an elevation the device might not work. We have been lucky that all of our devices work at higher elevations. Larry has read where lots of RV'ers have troubles, sometimes as low as 7000 feet. We camp a lot at much higher elevations.

After breakfast we went on a 4.5 mile hike, this time we hiked the Rift loop trail. We started the hike at the overflow camping area where we picked up the Turquoise Lake trail for 1.25 miles to the trailhead for Rift trail. Due to a forest fire years ago Rift trail is out in the open. It gradually goes up a hillside using a switchbacks . The switchback design was terrific and and you didn't really know you were going uphill. While we hiked we hiked by a pond. We didn't see any deer but we did see a few chipmunks. While hiking the trail back we saw a deep hole with logs in it. I thought it was a sink hole. I wasn't sure if it was natural or caused by the fire. As we hiked the lake trail back we saw a group of seniors hiking the trail (10 people). They were hiking at a steady pace and doing super. We also saw people enjoying the lake. People were sitting on the rocks on the bank, walking the banks, fishing on the banks, fishing in their boats and kayaking. The hike started a little nippy but it warmed up very fast. We had a super hike. 

Sink hole

 

Fishing in the shade

 

Rift Trail

When we got back we rested for a little bit. Then we had sandwiches for lunch.

After lunch I helped Larry unload the motorcycle. He took the straps off the cover and removed the cover before I helped him. I held the motorcycle while he released the straps, that held the motorcycle in place. We rode down a gorgeous mountain road that weaved around Turquoise Lake for about 16 miles. As we rode we drove through May Queen Campground, it's located at the far end of the lake. All the water spickets were covered so they weren't available to use. It looked like you had to bring your own water, the host had a small water container. We stopped a couple of times on the loop to stretch our legs. The seat on the motorcycle isn't too comfortable so you need to stretch. As we were driving down the mountain a lady on a bicycle passed us, she looked like she had been riding a bike for a long time and she definitely knew the road. She wasn't riding an e-bike. After driving the loop we went to Leadville. It's a cute little town. We drove around Leadville and stopped at Coffee & Ice Cream to share a scoop of ice cream. The ice cream was Salted Carmel. The service was good and the ice cream was good. I thought $5.50 was a little steep for a single scoop in a cup but the store got a steady flow of customers. After having ice cream we drove towards the campground. As we drove  by the city park Larry noticed the bathrooms were decorated very cute. He turned around and went back for me to take pictures. Each side had a season theme (winter, summer, fall and spring). The murals were very well done and the artists signed them. The park also had a nice playground. Next to the park were soccer fields and the county fairgrounds. The high school is right across the street from the park. Then we went home. It was a great ride through the Pike-San Isabel National Forest.

Winter 

Spring 

Fall or Autumn 

 

Summer

 

 Playground

 

 

Ice Cream

By the time we got home we were tired. While resting I played games. I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong and the event. The event was Event: Easy Street Mini of 15 games. It took me 42 minutes and 57 seconds, which put me in 20th place in my group.

For dinner we barbecued sausage patties. Yesterday Larry had problems with the grill so today he tried another regulator and the grill worked much better. We had a delicious dinner. After dinner I walked around the campground for 45 minutes to finish my steps. I ended up doing 20,000 steps, which put me in 5th place in my group. Larry helped me do my steps by hiking 5 miles with me in the mornings. Thank you, honey.