The Leos Have Landed...

Pappy on the road (taken by Leo)

 I've got to say, I'm diggin' Satellite Radio. Bluegrass music the whole trip without changing stations or worrying with plugging in my phone for MP3's.

After four days on the road, the Leos arrived at our summer base in Woodland Park, Colorado. We are staying at Bristlecone Lodge RV Park, which is in town, but within a short drive of the Pike National Forest.

The Leos' Summer Camp

We spent Friday and Saturday getting our camp set up and making the rounds of Woodland Park for essentials (goceries, oil change, etc.). Since the RV park is in town, everything is close at hand.

Sunday, we began our exploration of the National Forest nearby. Heading west from Woodland Park, we first stopped at a National Forest Visitors' Center at Wilkerson Pass (elevation 9502 ft.). From here the view of Pikes Peak and the surrounding area is great.

Pikes Peak from Wilkerson Pass

I'll work on a better picture of Pikes Peak from downtown. It's closer there.

View to the west from Wilkerson Pass

After crossing the Pass, we sought out Elevenmile Canyon, which contains a nine mile stretch the South Platte River between Elevenmile Reservoir and Lake George.  Sure looked fishy (clicking pictures will enlarge them) ....

Entrance to Elevenmile Canyon

South Platte River in Elevenmile Canyon

More...

and more.

Approaching the "end of the road".

This looks like a good place to start my fishing, since it's close by and listed in Trout Unlimited's Guide to America's 100 Best Trout Streams. Since I'm new to the area, I'd generally start by hiring a guide for a day to save myself a lot of trial and error. But since I have more time than budget, I plan to wing it this summer.


Now, I'm in a work week, so exploration and fishing will have to wait till the weekend. Till then, I'm workamping in the pines.