More kayaking on the south side of 11 Mile State park

The south side of 11 Mile State Park is the prettiest.

11 Mile State Park Camping

After a full day of play we head over to the campground to get a site. Because it is mid week we don't need reservations and snag a nice electric site. There were many both electric and not with a water view.

We picked a level one with water view.

Always happy when we don't have to level.

Very nice campground with fairly wide spaces between the sites.

Thought this one was a little prettier because it was on the edge which makes it easier to walk the dogs. It probably would need some leveling.

11 Mile State Park - Playing

After a couple of days in the national forest we head for the more developed 11 Mile State Park. They have a small general store at the entrance where we refresh our milk and water supply. The reservoir is available for boating but no people swimming or wading. Dogs were not discussed so we let Blossom swim.

Blossom cools off.

She is an excellent swimmer

Sunshine scoffs at the idea.

Everyone enjoys the pretty trail.

There were big fish you could see from the rock.

More swimming.

Time to go for a kayak ride.

Blossom does well in the boat but prefers to explore the shore.

Boondocking in Pike National Forest

I looked up Blue Mountain Campground in Pike National Forest. It looked to be nice and had a hiking trail from it. When we got there we realized that we had boondocked on this dirt road before so continued on to our old site.

Dirt road to boondocking site. It was in better shape this time than last time so we made good time.

More dirt road to boondocking site. It was only a couple of miles.

Access road to our site. It is off the main road so pretty easy to reach.

Parked in our old site. It was still perfectly level.

The view was still pretty.

The dogs love the national forest.

A view up to the RV when taking the dogs around the site.

There is a fire ring on site.

Blossom enjoys searching for ground squirrels.

There were many opportunities on the site. I think the rain has eroded the base around many of the trees. Probably not great if the winds pick up and blow them over.

Dogs ranging for ground squirrels.

We had pretty views all around.

Brake master cylinder replaced again?

Earlier in the winter the brake light came on. A couple of years ago this happened and we had the master cylinder replaced. Then a year later it happened again, we took it back to the original shop and they replaced it again.

This time we went to a different shop. When they took it out they didn't think it was a 1 or 2 yr old master cylinder. Did we get ripped off by the first shop? Seems like it.

Hopefully it is fixed now.

Also found we developed a roof leak over the winter. Have to recaulk the roof places where the roof is cut through for vents and such. We have eternabond on the front cap, back cap and side seams so it can't be from there.

Summary of Arches trip and goodby to 2014.

We had no problems with the RV going up I-70 from Denver through all the passes to Utah. I was a little nervous about it because sometimes the traffic on I-70 can be brutal. We were faster than trucks but slower than cars going up the steep hills. But the RV preformed flawlessly. We chose to go up on a Fri. and come back on a Mon. to avoid most of the bad traffic. Both decisions were good as traffic was light.

I had done minimal research on this trip because with the check engine light going off just before the trip I didn't think we were really going to go before snow started in the mountains. The RV shop we took it to correctly identified the O2 sensor and fixed our problem, clearing us for the mountain drive in our 20 yr old RV.

We really lucked out with the weather. The colors in Colorado were fabulous. The temps in Utah were cool and pleasant. Couldn't have asked for better. We checked Arches off our bucket list and got to see some fabulous sites along with doing some great hikes. It is hard to imagine that I lived for so long in CO without an RV and all the things I missed seeing when we didn't have one.

Now it is time to put the RV to bed for the winter.

Misc. dog pictures and the Vail rest stop at the top of the pass

Blossom curls up with her tail over her nose.

Sunshine has eaten his meal but Blossom is ignoring hers. Sunshine wants to know if he can eat hers to.

A cow says goodbye as we leave Rifle.

The rest stop at Vail pass had a great walking trail for the dogs to stretch their legs.

Sunshine says this is really pretty!