Cheap camping in Colorado!

If you are planning to fish during your Colorado visit this summer, CPW has a new tool to help you land a trophy fish. It is an interactive version of the Colorado Fishing Atlas that allows you to choose a family-friendly or more remote fly-fishing location. Then you click on that location to see what species are available, the bag limits for each species, and the relative abundance of each species based on the most recent fish sampling completed by CPW. This tool will give you plenty the time before your trip to outfit yourself with the proper equipment to catch that giant brown trout or northern pike!

This wonderful new tool to help plan your limited summer vacation time around potentially productive fishing areas can be found HERE. Have fun with it--I have been!

The NPS announced that they have started plowing the snow off Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park this week. They hope to have it completed by Memorial Day weekend, but spring storms and 22-foot drifts sometimes slow them down a bit.

Maybe they'll have better luck this year!

It snowed all night and is still snowing in Denver this morning. The San Juans are getting 10-20" of new snow today on top of the existing snowpack. And more is predicted for the middle of next week.

So, even though most trees here have their leaves, spring has not entirely arrived, even at the lower elevations (it's all relative, "lower" being 5,000-6,000' above sea level). That means we should be in for a late runoff and a summer of steady river flows.

I think spring has finally arrived! We have had several 80 degree days along the Front Range and the mountain snow is beginning to melt. Only 1 ski area is still open and the trout fishing is really picking up in those streams that are not too muddied from runoff. We have to see if the NPS can get Trail Ridge open by the Friday before Memorial Day.

Well, I spoke too soon. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, 10 to 20 inches of new snow are expected to fall all across the Colorado Rockies, with the highest amounts along the Sawatch Range (Leadville to Salida) and in the San Juans of SW Colorado. Even Denver may see a little snow on Tuesday.

And it is now doubtful that Trail Ridge Road in RMNP will be open for Memorial Day weekend. A photo in the Denver Post showed snow drifts still completely burying the visitors center near the top of the pass.

So, summer may be on hold for a while yet in the mountains!

Spring has arrived! My back yard in a SW Denver suburb on May 21, 2019:

Sorry, image size was just a bit large.

BTW, some areas of the Palmer Divide-Black Forest ridge along I-25 between Denver and Colorado Sprigs got 19" of new snow last night!

fanrgs wrote:
Spring has arrived! My back yard in a SW Denver suburb on May 21, 2019:

Just type width=720 to bring it back just before jpg.

Love the White Blossoms - they rival the Cherry Blossoms here in DC. .:)

Summer officially begins on Thursday, but we have had only a couple of days in the 80's so far. Still raining in the Denver area and A-Basin Ski Area just announced they are staying open until at least June 30. So, pack some warm clothes if you are camping in the Colorado Rockies soon.

Snowpack is melting slowly this year, but Lake City now appears to be out of major flood danger. I would be very cautious about boondocking, or even designated campground camping, in the floodplain of any Colorado mountain stream until mid-July.