July 27 - July 31: Golden Gate Canyon State Park in Golden, CO

After leaving the White River National Forest we were ready for some comforts of civilization, particularly running water and showers. Unfortunately, we were a little disappointed since there was only one shower house on the opposite side of the campground from our first campsite. We stayed three nights in Loop B and then the last night in Loop C of the Reverends Ridge Campground. There was a bathroom with running water in Loop B and this was the only running water available in that loop. There was only a vault toilet adjacent to Loop C with one running water spout in the middle of the Loop. Granted, it was the nicest vault toilet I've been in. Both sites had electric hook ups which wasn't that desirable/necessary since our solar off grid system was ample. This RV camp set up seemed strange to me especially since the sites cost in the mid-$30s and a $10 daily use fee was also levied. I don't know if other Colorado State Parks are similar but I will be sure to investigate before making any future reservations since the cost to benefit ratio seems out of kilter.

The camp site in Loop B was very nice and a pull through. I didn't think to take a picture of the rig on that site. The site in Loop C was a back-in type and had more of an RV park feel with a little buffer between sites. Here is a picture of the rig in the Loop C site.

The walk to the shower offered a nice view as we approached the shower house. The shower house also included laundry facilities that we took advantage of on Sunday afternoon while we waited to switch camp sites. If you look closely, you see the wet pavement on the road.

It rained every afternoon that we were at the park. One of the rains included some hail that had me crossing my fingers the roof top solar would survive. There were multi-use trails available in the park. They were either rated moderate or difficult. We thought about biking a trail but the rains and a broken bolt on my mountain bike ended up limiting our one excursion to a ride around the campground.

On Sunday morning, I jogged one of the moderate rated trails. The map listed the trail I picked as about 3.5 miles long. While jogging the trail, I was glad we didn't attempt to bike it. In fact, on one rocky stretch, I ended up walking since the incline was too steep for me to jog up. I did get a couple of nice views though.

After jogging the trail to Panorama Point, which was a picnic area accessible by car, I decided to abandon completing the trail loop and just finish my jog the easy way on the road back to the campground.

On Monday morning we leisurely packed up camp and headed to the dump station. This was the first time I needed to dump the recycled water hand washing tank after its use at White River Forest. We also removed the filters afterwards and put them in a container to dry out. Drying out the filters was the manufacturers long term storage recommendation.

Jane had made multiple online orders that we scheduled for pickup Monday on our way to the house we rented in Golden CO for our yearly get together with our children and their families. Jane decided the online order approach was the way to go due to her unfamiliarity with the stores and the number to shop at. After our stay at the Golden rent house, we will go to Grand Junction CO to stay with our daughter and her family.