"beach" camping

This weekend I went camping with some friends at a lake outside of the west entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. For some reason, it took us four hours to get there. But the drive on Trail Ridge Road through the park was beautiful! We saw a large elk herd and a mama moose with baby moose:


And, also, it was raining a good portion of the day, so being in the car for so long didn't really ruin any plans.

Since we were, after all, camping at a lake, I took my suit. But, even in July, a lake at 8300 feet is quite a bit different from, say, East Lake. I chose to stay dry, but some people did brave the chilly water.

After a while, we went into Grand Lake to look around. Half of the group went off to do a hike, and the rest of us vegged with live music, beer, and chile verde at a patio restaurant.


When we all met back up at the campsite, there were some kids -- one in particular -- very insistent on hanging around, "telling jokes," and reprimanding us for "breaking laws" ... and not to mention, being quite unsafe with pokey sticks.


Sunset Point Campground lived up to its name and gave us a beautiful sunset over the lake.


We roasted hot dogs, marshmallows (S'mores!!!), and banana boats, and did some singing around the fire. We turned in pretty early, and five (out of the six pictured below) of us in one tent made for some decidedly cozy quarters, but I was warm and comfortable the whole night through, which, in my book, are two key ingredients for camping.