Roosevelt National Forest //
It’s time to pack up again and make our way towards Loveland today. Before doing so though, I’m grateful to have time in our day for my preferred morning routine: writing with a hot cup of tea in hand, a long walk, and then breakfast. My days are exponentially better when they are able to begin slowly and intentionally.
Today’s drive takes us up and over Fremont Pass, down to the I-70 corridor, through Ten Mile Canyon, up and over Loveland Pass, down towards the Front Range, and then back up into Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests as we make our way towards Estes Park. I woke with a headache, and with each climb, the pressure in my head increases, then noticeably decreases with each descent. There’s no getting around in the Colorado Rockies without this constant up and down, up and down.
A much more direct route would have been for us to drive straight down to Denver and then north on I-25 to Loveland. However, we tend to avoid the congestion of Denver and its dense suburbs at all costs. We have no problem driving an extra hour or two if it means getting to avoid the city altogether. With that extra drive time, our plan is to stay one night somewhere between Nederland and Estes Park before needing to be in Loveland tomorrow.
Camping in Colorado east of the Continental Divide is something we never do. Any public land between the Divide and the Front Range is so close to densely populated areas that the pickings are either slim or undesirable due to trash or loud neighbors. The first unoccupied site we find is nothing special but will work just fine for the night. It’s private and hopefully small enough that another camper won’t pull in next to us. While the trash left behind is minimal, the use of this particular spot is displayed in the abuse to every single tree that is within hand’s reach. There are so many scars from axes and hatchets, it looks like someone went to war with the trees. Luckily, they appear to have survived and weren’t hacked down entirely.
We are now just a day away from kicking off another Overland Expo weekend. After glancing at our schedule for the coming days and reviewing the three presentations we’ll be giving, the nerves begin to ramp up. Not necessarily around the presentations themselves but for the general overwhelm of being around thousands of people for three straight days. To go from living alone in the woods to having countless social interactions is jarring for introverts like Mark and me. But we go because we love the opportunity to inspire others to live an unconventional lifestyle like us. Here’s hoping for a good night’s sleep. Starting tomorrow, life kicks into high gear.
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I wish you well with your presentations. I have no doubt you will both be great!
Thank you!
Love the pics. I am sure your forum will be great. Just try to enjoy.
My wife and I have lived much of what you are doing, but many many years ago.
The big difference is all of the technology that you are using was not available when we did it, and somehow, we did just fine without it. That sure raises questions for me. I feel there are way too many people with no experience and not savvy about the outdoors that are out there over-populating all of the wonderful remote places. All of these blogs and technology are making it so “easy” for them to get out there without any true knowledge of what it means to be in a remote place and how to be “respective” of those remote places..
I am about to give up trying to find my past wonderful experiences (and sell my 4 Wheel Camper) in the wild because I am seeing that those wonderful wild places are being taken over by hords of people who have no idea how to respect the wild, who all of the fancy $100 K vans, and no idea what simple experiences in the wild even mean.
For me personally, our technology has enabled people with no skills to go out into the wilds and endanger themselves, and also to not be respectful of their environments.
I love what you two have done! I read your blog every morning and enjoy it. But, at the same time I feel that others are just using your vast wisdom and experiences to over-populate the wild.
Chris (77 year old 4wheel camper owner) who with his wife, twice, quit their high-tech jobs for a year and explored the wilds of Canada and Alaska.
I can completely understand where you’re coming from Chris. Camping and overlanding now draws a much wider crowd than it ever did pre-social media and pre-Starlink. I’ve come to accept that it’s now the world we live otherwise I’ll constantly be dwelling on how good it used to be. And I can’t deny the fact that those advancements in technology have allowed us to run our business from the road which I’m so grateful for.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve reached the point you have and may end up selling your FWC. However, it sounds like you and your wife have had some really incredible experiences in the great outdoors in your lifetime. Props to you both for making it work without technology. You got the chance to experience the wild when it still was truly wild. That’s awesome.