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Memorial Day Camping

Jameson

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2018
Messages
371
Location
Woodland Park, CO
My wife, dog and I headed up to the Poudre Canyon area for Memorial Day camping. As always on a busy weekend, the 4wd, high clearance and off-road trailer helped us get away from the the hoards. We started down Pingree Park Road (63E) https://www.trailsoffroad.com/trails/1923-pingree-park-rd and then headed over on Crown Point Road https://www.trailsoffroad.com/trails/3019-crown-point-road . The hoards were out en force... with nothing else to do in locked down Cali-rado, the RV and ya-hoos had every camp spot occupied. We ended up making it 9.5 miles up until we ran into a 4runner hanging at a precarious angle off the side of the pass. We were informed that a snow bank blocked the road another 1/4 mile up, so we turned around and drove down the rest of 63E. Our last bet was to head up FR 352 https://www.trailsoffroad.com/trails/2726-hurley , a turn off of Pennock Pass https://www.trailsoffroad.com/trails/636-pennock-pass .

FR 352 is an out an back with two man legs with convenient little roundabouts at the end of each. The left turn is where we headed after the 1 good and 2-3 mediocre campsites we passed were occupied. We were warned by one group that the one leg was steep and rock... faced with the prospect of turning around and heading back to Arvada without a campsite for the weekend this was welcomed news. We headed up 352's left leg and found a small campsite about 1/8 of a mile towards the end. We had to back our 4x4 trailer into the spot and then winch it sideways so we could use our small kitchen and deploy the roof top tent. It was a tight fit, but a great spot for the weekend. There was a better spot close by, but it was occupied. The road up was fun... more fun without the trailer... the trails off-road site rates it as a 3... moderate. I'd say it has a eroded to something more of a 5... most of it not any more difficult that a slaughterhouse gulch or something like that... with a couple of spots that were exceptions. It was fun with the trailer. Caution... it was narrow... I had to commit to having pinstripes on the 200. It was a christening of sorts...

It was a quite couple of days. We saw a couple of 4x4s and a few dirt bikes. Sunday morning we awoke to some high country snow. We had to pack up in the snow and mud, winch out of our small spot. Wouldn't have it any other way.

For those who have narrower vehicles (t100? 40? Tacoma?) the road is fun and offers some crowd free camping, and some easy hiking. On road 2 full days, driving 7 hours.

We took the back way out back home - over Pennock Pass, Buckhorn Road and North County Rd 27. Pretty drive on a dirt road through a little canyon. Found a couple of houses I wouldn't mind holing up in for the next Corona lockdown.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend.
 

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Jameson

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2018
Messages
371
Location
Woodland Park, CO
Sorry to hear of your troubles Jameson. I guess they say a bad day out camping is better than a good day at work.





You probably don't want to hear about camping out here this weekend though.

View attachment 86176

Oh I wasn't complaining. As you stated, a bad day of camping beats a good day in most other places!
 
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