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So, for my birthday I couldn’t go home, the next best thing is totally camping however. What a great time to have our friends Jen & Chris and The Wicals. We were first going to camp elsewhere, but the snow was still enough that it was only partially open. 11 Mile State Park was the next location and it worked well. I arrived late at the lake where Troy and I spent a good hour trying to find where Chris had parked his vanagon, we finally found it and parked for the night. Next morning came early but appeared to be a beautiful day. The morning was spent just relaxing and making plans for possible adventures later that day. Chris and I took a quick excursion to scout out the top of a rock bluff where it looked like we might be able to take some photographs. Both of us had a good amount of huffing and puffing at this higher elevation, but we made it to the top. The top of that bluff was beautiful. We hung out there for a while before taking a different route to the bottom. Both Chris and I decided that it was too difficult of a path for the kids so the next trip would be adults only.

After lunch the guys picked up some water and camera gear and headed out to climb the bluff again. The climb was not bad and we were racing to get to the top before the sun really set down. After we arrived at the summit we just relaxed and waited for the sun to set. With the campground so barren it was amazing how quiet it was. After a bit we all set and took some photographs of the landscape. I think we would have stayed longer, but some dark clouds were rolling in and appeared to be heading towards us. We made it back down and just as we arrived at the camp the rain started to fall. We all took cover in our buses for a bit and it quickly blew over. The remainder of the night was spent hanging around our campfire and chatting. Everyone turned in and I slept quite well.

The next morning we all left the park back a long way that Jen & Chris took. The route was a great trip full of beautiful views of Pike and surrounding mountains. On the way back we all stopped to take a tour of the petrified redwoods near there. After the tour we all took a quick trip through Garden of the Gods park. I can’t wait to go back there, it’s quite beautiful.