Diamond Lake (Attempt)

When we saw the news say that Denver was going to have record temperatures in terms of heat over the weekend, Colleen and I said, “Let’s head to the mountains!”

In an attempt to wear Sooner out so that she won’t be so jumpy during the ride up to the mountains, Colleen took Sooner to the dog park. Apparently now, instead of wearing Sooner out, now we have built up her endurance to the point that taking her to the dog park does not wear her out anymore, but is a mere morning workout to her day. *sigh*

We quickly packed due to the fact that we were car caaaaaaamping instead of real camping and just threw everything in the back of the Blazer. We were headed to 4th of July TH and campground which is just 30 minutes west of Boulder, near Eldora.

Once we arrived, we realized things were going to be a lot colder than anticipated. The temperature in Denver when we left was 93 degrees. At 10,000ft at the campground, it was 63 degrees.

I got out my goliath Wal-Mart tent that I got when I was 17 and was surprised to see how big it actually was. I haven’t camped with this thing since I was in college. Now I remember why I never backpack with it and always bring my small tent! This thing has 2 rooms with a divider! And, you can stand up in it!

After getting the tent setup, the three of us went exploring around our campsite and realized we were camping really close to the river. (This wouldn’t have ANYTHING to do with the reason why it got extra cold that night…oh no.)

We quickly made dinner using my blowtorch, err rather Dragon Fly stove. It can boil water in 3 minutes. It’s ridiculous. However, after we cleaned up after dinner, we had nothing to do and it was starting to get cold so we went to the tent for the evening.

Before we know it, the sun went down and we started to worry about Sooner getting too cold because she had no blankets or anything. She would occasionally snuggle with us, but otherwise seemed fine, so we kept on sleeping.

When we woke up it was below freezing outside! Ooops. Colleen didn’t even bring any pants! (Let alone either of us have gloves or a stocking cap) Breakfast was served while sitting inside the Blazer and we quickly packed up the campsite and started our hike.

Sooner was awesome. She was pulling me the entire way. She had no problems crossing over snow and/or rivers. However there was one waterfall she couldn’t cross. But I’ll let that go.

The hike was nice with a gentle incline at the beginning until you get to the cutoff for Arapahoe Peaks and Diamond Lake. We took the Diamond Lake option.

Unfortunately however, it turned out that due to snow conditions we were unable to continue up to the lake. We were about a mile away from the lake when we had to turn around.

We then trekked it back up to the turnoff and then back down to the parking lot in short order. Again, Sooner leading the entire way. Many people commented on how in shape our Corgi was. (Usually they are overweight.)

As we were pulling out of the parking lot at about 10:30am, we were surprised at how many people were just now arriving and/or trying to find a parking spot. This place is a zoo! Get here early! We left at 7:30am and it was perfect.

When we return we now know to leave Brighton around 5am and things will work out great for the day! Can’t wait to finally make the lake someday!