The best camping spot EVER

Since my trip to China got delayed and I was feeling really stressed, I decided to go to the mountains to hike a 14er and camp for the night. Mountains are a big stress reliever for me. I took Connor with me for a special Mother and Son trip.

I woke Connor up at 4am, so we could drive down to Alma, Colorado to hike Mount Democrat. I had read that Kite Lake was a beautiful campground and you could hike right from your site. The road to the campground was not well-maintained and it was true off-roading. Lola actually started crying because the Subaru was shaking all over the place. I attached a video below of the drive.

We arrived at the trailhead and campground at 6:30am. I walked up to a campsite right by the lake and asked the people if they were leaving that day. They said that I could definitely take their site because they were leaving right after the hike. It was only 35 degrees when we arrived and I realized that it would be a pretty cold night of camping.

Connor and I started hiking and it was straight up, with no flat parts to the trail. Connor struggled with headaches and I felt terrible. But, he insisted that he wanted to keep going.

Lola is in her element on these 14ers. She absolutely loves it and she runs for hours. Everyone always comments on what a well behaved dog she is.

Lola loves hiking and she runs for hours. Her tail wags and her ears stick straight up. This time, she loved chasing after little critters that look like mice. They are called Pikas. I attached a video below of Lola chasing after these little guys. I had fun watching them too. They loved to play hide and seek. They talk a lot too.

We summited the mountain in about 2 ½ hours and we had to do a lot of rock climbing. This was a very technical trail. We could have used poles and it would have been helpful.

The trip back down was very hard on the knees and Connor and I fell multiple times. Thankfully, neither of us got injured. When we got to the bottom, it was actually pretty warm. I set up our tent while Connor slept in the car for 2 hours.

There were multiple tents set up around us, but they were only there for a couple of hours. The hikers just paid for a night so that they could sleep for a couple hours before driving home.

We saw a big marmot run across our campsite. I didn't realize how huge they were!

We did have some neighbors for the night. One couple was from Michigan and they had hiked all four 14ers that morning. There was also a group of 3 older women that also set up camp. They were all very nice and there tents were far from us so we had a lot of privacy.

Lola was apparently very hungry after our hike and ate almost a whole bag of trail mix and beef jerky from the car. She just tore into the bag. She never does that so I didn't get mad. I should have fed her right away when we got back. I was a little worried about what that would do to her stomach and Connor and I definitely smelled it in the tent that night.

Connor and I just talked for hours and hours that night. We had some great bonding time.

We slept for almost a full 12 hours and woke up to frost all over our tent and picnic table. I have a video below of what happened when I tried to make tea that morning. But, the sun came out around 9am and it got warm quickly.

I cracked our windshield on the 4WD back home. Those rocks were huge!

Lola chasing the Pika

Trying to make tea

4WD road to Kite Lake