White River National Forest, Colorado - September 7th to 11th, 2020

Our original plan was to camp at Bogan Flats Campground for three nights in the White River National Forest so we could hike the Hanging Lake Trail near Glenwood Springs. Our hiking permit was for September 9th. Nature forced us to change plans. The Grizzly Creek Fire caused the closure of Hanging Lake Trail. Then an early winter storm was predicted for September 8th, the day we planned to drive through the mountains. We decided to leave a day earlier and spend four nights at Bogan Flats instead of three.

After stopping to check out Georgetown and Leadville, we took Independence Pass over to Carbondale instead of I-70. Highway 82 over Independence Pass starts just south of Leadville, past Twin Lakes. We were hoping the smoke would thin out a little and we could have some nice views over the pass. No such luck. The smoke was so thick we couldn't even see the far shore of the Twin Lakes. The smoke was slightly better at the top of the pass as we could make out some of the closest mountain peaks instead of just seeing a gray abyss. The rock walls, pine trees and aspen groves along the roadside gave us some interesting views. Had we not been there before, we probably would have thought it was a scenic drive. But it was a little disappointing since we knew what gorgeous panoramic views there were hidden behind all that smoke.

Independence Pass brought us down through Aspen. We did not stop in Aspen this time and continued to Carbondale. We filled up with gas in Bassalt to make sure we could hunker down in the Marble area for four nights with plenty of gas to run our heater. The closest gas station from our campground was half an hour away, back in Carbondale. Bogan Flats Campground is on county road 3, the road to the town of Marble. The campground is run by the US Forest Service along the Crystal River in the White River National Forest. It has vault toilets, water, and dumpsters, but no place to dump our gray water. We had to conserve our gray water to make our 12 gallons of gray water capacity last the four nights we were staying there. The campground is small and quiet, nestled in the aspen and evergreen trees. There are several campsites right along the river that looked very secluded and idyllic. Of course, that's not where our reservation was, but you can't have everything!

Our two different camp sites were nice, but we believe the next time we'll try to get one of those spots along the river. We believe the nice sites by the river are site numbers 015, 016 and 017. The picnic table and fire ring for our first camp site was a little ways from where we parked the van, but the table was in a clearing with nice, but smoky, views of the surrounding mountains. It also allowed us to get more steps in carrying the ingredients back and forth from the van to the picnic table as we cooked our dinner on our butane stove (paid link). Dinner was an egg scramble with breakfast sausage from Wild Pastures along with an onion, cheese, and a yellow zucchini from our home garden. We sat outside in our camp chairs until it got dark, knowing that we'd probably be inside most of the following day.

It was very windy in the morning. We switched camp sites right before lunch as it started to rain. Significant rain did not start until after lunch. The rain gave way to snow in the afternoon. We turned on the heater in the afternoon. It kept our Red Tail Lodge, what we call our van, pretty warm and cozy. We went for a couple of walks around the campground in the falling snow, once in the late afternoon and again after dinner. On the first walk, we walked a little ways down county road 3 towards Marble. We did not make it to the group campground. There was not much traffic on the road. 

It was a winter wonderland with the trees covered in snow. The willow trees and small aspen were bent over to the ground from the weight of the snow. The bent over willows narrowed the campground road at one point to less than a car width. The Crystal River flowed by the snow covered rocks and trees, adding the soothing sound of flowing water to the already peaceful scene.

Since there was not much sunlight, our battery power got low and we turned on the van engine to recharge them several times during the day. We ran the engine right before we went to bed to make sure the batteries lasted until morning. For dinner, Right Buddy (RB) made cream of broccoli soup in the InstantPot (paid link). Soup tasted good on a snowy evening. After dinner we played double solitaire with two decks of cards. It's been a long time since we've played cards. Double solitaire was the only game for two people that we could remember the rules for. Both games ended in a draw. We don't remember solitaire being that hard of a game. RB even played a few rounds by herself and still didn't win.

The batteries were down to 64% by morning, so we ran the engine before putting hot water on for breakfast. It had stopped snowing overnight and everything was covered with a beautiful blanket of snow. So RB could get her fix of taking pictures of the snow, we took a morning stroll down county road 3 for about half a mile. The entrance to the group camp site was about a quarter mile down the road from the main campground. It looked like a nice secluded spot along the river, a perfect spot for a large private party. The sun came out and lit up the mountain peaks that were playing peak-a-boo with the small clouds and bit of fog.

For lunch, we heated up the leftover broccoli soup and toasted some bread in a pan on our butane stove. Our picnic table was under a large evergreen tree and we played Russian roulette with the snow dripping and plopping off of the tree into the pan. 

In the afternoon, we drove to Marble, which was less than five miles down the road. County road 3 dead-ends in Marble, at Beaver Lake. RB was rather disappointed with the town of Marble. She was hoping it had a small main street with cute little shops, but the town is mostly private residences. There were a couple of places with large marble sculptures that we assume were for sale, but we would not want to know how much they sold for nor how expensive the transportation costs would be to ship that much weight. There was also a BBQ restaurant and a B&B that sold coffee and cinnamon rolls. 

We got out at Beaver Lake to take pictures of the surrounding mountain peaks reflecting in the water. It looked like there might be a path around the lake, but there were signs posted everywhere that you needed a hunting or fishing license to access the area, so we did not venture down the trail. The road continues past the lake, but turns into a 4WD dirt road which looks like it is mainly used by ATV's and OHV's. The road takes you to the Crystal Mill trailhead where you can hike the dirt road 4.5 miles to the Crystal Mill. To go down to the river next to the old mill, there is a $10 charge. It is also not clear from the posted signs by Beaver Lake if you are allowed down the road without a hunting or fishing license. Photographers love to take pictures of the old Crystal Mill and RB wanted to hike there, but we decided to pass. Colorado changed the rules in 2020 and now requires a fishing or hunting license in order to access a state wildlife area. We looked up the wildlife area boundary later and it looks like the road to the Crystal City Road trailhead is outside the state wildlife area.

When we got back to our camp site, the sun was shining brightly. It was still chilly out, but we sat outside in the sun and let it keep us warm for a while. By dinner time, the tree was not dripping much, so we cooked tortilla pizzas outside on the picnic table. However, a cool breeze had kicked up so we retreated to the van to stay warm while we ate our pizzas. We took one more walk around the campground to enjoy the small amount of snow that remained before spending the rest of the evening listening to podcasts.

In the morning, we went for a hike, Huntsman Ridge Trail near McClure Pass. The trailhead was not very visible from the road. Thank goodness we were watching our location relative to the trailhead on Colorado 133 as we neared the pass using the AllTrails app. There is just a little dirt turnoff. However, there are a few parking spots just about ten feet off the road behind the trees. After we turned in, we could see a pickup truck with a trailer and an OHV parked off to the right. We parked our van in a spot just left of the entrance, but wanted to make sure that we were not blocking the truck and trailer from getting out. Left Buddy (LB) went over to talk to the three young men by the truck. They were planning on camping for several nights so it was not an issue. 

The trail was very muddy and steep. We only hiked the first two miles of the trail, but the trail continues for another couple of miles past that. The trail stayed mostly in a thick aspen grove which helped protect us from the cold breeze. There were patches of snow with many large freshly-snapped aspen branches laying across the trail. We could see horse prints in the mud and fresh road apples on the trail, but no signs of anyone else on the way up. 

The views near the top where we turned around were great, that is when it was not obscured by clouds. The skies were no longer smoky, but there were quite a few clouds that came rolling through and it sprinkled some rain on us during our hike. A snowman was still standing in a meadow which looked like it had been made the day before. The trail gained about 1700 feet elevation in two miles. Luckily only one short section was so steep that we had trouble maintaining traction in the thick, slippery mud and we struggled to get up it, even with our trekking poles. We had YakTrax (paid link) with us, but we didn't get them out. 

RB was having a little difficulty with her camera (paid link). The lens kept fogging up. She carries it in a Peak Design clip (paid link) on the left shoulder strap of her backpack. That means it's right above her left arm pit. When the warm, moist air hits the cold lens, it condenses. She struggled trying to figure out a solution, since it was rather annoying to be fogged up every time she wanted to take a picture. At the top, we sat down on our small tarp and ate our lunch. The sun and clouds gave us glimpses of the surrounding mountain peaks and pretty valley as we sat there. A large cloud bank rolled in which totally blocked our view. Time to start heading back down. 

With the sun behind the clouds, the temperature had dropped. RB's hands were cold so she put on her light pair of gloves thinking her hands would warm up as we got moving again. It wasn't long before we stopped for her to dig her warm gloves out of her pack. She had put them in her pack as a safety measure, not thinking she would actually need them. She was glad she had them. We had worked up a sweat on the way up the trail, but it was less work going down. Not soon after starting back down, we thought it was snowing on us. However, when we looked closer at the white stuff hitting the ground, they were not snow flakes but round white balls known as graupel. 

When we got to the really steep section, we decided to go off trail around it. Falling down and being covered from head to toe in wet mud was not something we wanted to do. Making our way around that section was not really any less steep, but it was on ground covered with leaves, twigs and rocks instead of mud which gave us more traction. Not long after that, we came across the three young men we had seen at the trailhead. They were loaded down with 70 pound packs and heading up to spend several days on the ridge bow hunting. They were struggling with the mud and the heavy packs. We warned them of the steep section ahead of them.

We later thought about how they would haul an animal like a deer or elk back down the trail should they happen to kill one. With already 70 pound packs did they have room and the strength to carry all the meat back down with them? When we got back to the trailhead, we noticed that there were tire tracks leading up to the gate at the start of the trail. Their OHV was too wide to go through the gate. Was their original plan to take the OHV up to the ridge? Even if they could have gotten the OHV through the gate, they would have spent a lot of time clearing all those aspen branches out of the way. We hope everything went well for them and that they had a good time.

After passing the three hunters and getting back into the thick aspen grove, we warmed up again as we were more protected from the wind. RB's hands warmed up and we both took our gloves back off. As we got closer to the trailhead, we passed a couple coming up the trail. They were hoping to get up to the top for the view. They did not look as prepared for the weather. They had no trekking poles, no packs and just a couple water bottles. We don't know if they made it to the top or not, but hopefully they had the sense to turn around if they got too wet or cold. It took us a total of three hours and 45 minutes to complete the trail which included our half hour lunch stop. This was hike #49 of our 52 Hike Challenge.

The rest of the day we spent back at Bogan Flats Campground. It rained off and on all day. Dinner was peanut curry chicken with brown rice, a hearty, warm meal after a good day of hiking. We left Bogan Flats Campground the following day. Our destination for the night was Winding River Resort near Grand Lake. That meant that we were heading towards the active wildfires. We were anxious to find out what the current conditions were like.

We were so glad we decided to start our trip a day early and wait out the snow storm at the campground instead of trying to drive through the mountains in the middle of the storm. A willingness to change plans while traveling and camping can make all the difference between having a scary, unsafe experience and having a wonderful experience. Hanging out in our Red Tail Lodge at Bogan Flats Campground during the storm was so peaceful and relaxing. It seemed somewhat magical.

Check out our related video: White River National Forest

(RB)