Honeymoon in Poudre Canyon

Two days after the wedding, we headed out in the RV for our honeymoon.

Sandi had said that she had only two requirements for the honeymoon:  It had to be somewhere that I had not been before.  And it had to be a secret from her.  After some head-scratching, I choose the Poudre River canyon.  Since the honeymoon started midweek, I expected to find campsites readily available.   To add to the mystery, instead of going the usual route, I decided to get there via Masonville and Buckhorn road, which I had never driven.

Our first campsite was Kelly Flats.  We found a campsite next to the river and settled in.  We bought some wood from the campground host, but found it not easy to burn.  It appeared to be wet.   We were able to have a campfire, however, which was important to Sandi, who loves campfires.

 The next day, Thursday, we took a hike through a meadow.  On the other side of the meadow we found a group of small cabins, which appeared to still have outhouses.

RV at Tunnel campground

On Friday we moved the RV up to Tunnel campground, on the Laramie River.  The name refers to a tunnel that brings water from the Laramie River to the Poudre River, a transmountain diversion.   We hiked a bit to take a look at the tunnel.  That Friday was the first day that the campground was open for the season.   The campground hostess was a determined older lady with a leg brace; she was taking care of the campground by herself.

Richard did a little fishing on the Laramie River, but only caught willow bushes.   The mosquitos were out, which they had not been at Kelly Flats.  Richard had to remove a tick after wandering through the bushes.

On Saturday, we took a hike out of the valley, on the West Branch trail, into the Rawah wilderness area.  There were quite a few hikers, including a youth group.   Some of the folks were backpacking.   The trail was not too steep or muddy.   At a certain point, we ran into trees fallen across the trail.  For each tree, you had to hike up and around it, and then back down.  We decided that was high enough for us, and turned around.

Richard was playing with our new DSLR camera.  He used a long exposure, and got the following shot of the creek.  Arty but crooked; he did not have his tripod, so braced on the crooked footbridge.  ;-)

On Sunday, we moved back to Kelly Flats, escaping the mosquitos, and even got the same campsite.

On Monday, we drove home, back to reality and obligations.