The campsite we found by GPS accident was on the Yampa River. The ranger said it is the last free-flowing river in Colorado. The cottonwoods and aspens were all turning golden and the river had wide sandy beaches.
Some places are easier than others to camp. This one was really easy. We even had time to do laundry an take showers.
The beaches were full of animal tracks: soft tracks in sand, deep tracks in silty sludge, detailed tracks in dried clay. Troy got a new book and wanted spend more time here.
These little flies were a nuisance. They didn’t bite but got themselves stuck to anything with any hint of food.
Tristan brought mosquito nets that finally got put to use. See that little white squirt bottle on the bench of the picnic table? That is our portable bathroom. Just add a shovel and paper is optional. There was actually a pit toilet in a nice clean building at this site. We picked up the habit of washing in the Middle East. Every toilet had a hose with squirt nozzle attached.
While the adults filtered water and washed clothes, the boys splashed and ran and buried each other in the sand bank. They tunneled into this steep bank, which is not a good idea as well as forbidden, but it was an awesome tunnel. Troy has a special bag with nubbins inside for washing clothes. He did all of his clothes, and I did my wool hiking pants. The kids’ stuff had to wait a couple of days till we stayed at a hotel and had access to laundry. The hotel was just because it was too late in the day to get to the next stop, not because we gave up and were sick of it. It was best hot shower and continental breakfast ever! Plus the kids had wi-fi the next morning for school. That was in Rock Springs, Wyoming between Dinosaur National Park and the Shoshone National Forest.
Winston demonstrates the shower. The black bag sits in the sun to warm up and then a foot pad inflates it. Now the hose is pressurized to squirt water with mild pressure. The only down side was that this site did not have potable water, and the river water was full of silt. The first step to get rid of the silt is to fill gallon jugs and wait ten minutes for the silt to settle. Then you run it through a filter that Troy bought at REI. You would still have to boil it to drink it. Filtering au natural would involve leaves and sand and pebbles and charcoal. Sorry to disappoint you, but we are not that far into survivor mode. Even with our cheats from REI and leisure time at the perfect campground, water still requires A LOT of work. The kids’ clothes all got washed at the motel in Rock Springs.
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