Cataract Campground, White River National Forest - A Small Campground with great hikes nearby

Campground and site #1 with best views of surrounding mtns

Camped over Fourth of July weekend, 2011, 23 weeks pregnant.  


Even though pregnancy has slowed me down this summer, I was determined to camp at least once this season; even with the holidays crowds we hit the road to camp north of Silverthorne Colorado.  After looking into the Green Mountain Res area, I found a more secluded campground southwest of the reservoir which had lots of trails nearby and hoped we could find a site there.  We drove out Friday afternoon, arriving at the campground near 6pm and there was just one spot left!  We felt very fortunate to get a site, although it ended up being mosquito infested and made for a weekend of swatting bugs and spending more time in the camper than usual; but it was worth it!  

Lower Cataract Lake Loop/Creek, North of Silverthorne Colorado

Lower Cataract Lake, Colorado

Hiked July 2nd, 2011; 23 weeks pregnant. 

While I haven't posted many hikes this summer, it doesn't mean that I haven't been hiking!  In fact, I have several posts to catch up on and they are good ones! 

Over the weekend of the Fourth of July, Josh, the dogs and I decided to go camping.  I wanted to camp at least once while pregnant this summer.  We decided to head North of Silverthorne Colorado to the Green Mountain Reservoir area; we didn't exactly know where we wanted to camp, but I wanted to check out the Lower Cataract Lake area, which is just southwest of the Res.  We drove up the bumpy dirt road 3 miles to the Cataract Campground and hiked just up the road at the Cataract Creek/Lake Trailhead.   Josh and I hiked the loop which is moderate/easy and approximately 2+ miles around the loop; located in the Eagles Nest Wilderness, White River National Forest. 

Warren Gulch Trailhead, for hikers and bikers; Idaho Springs, CO

Hiked this trail June 30, 2011, at 22 weeks pregnant. 
Summer hiking this season has kept me closer to home and I have been exploring Clear Creek County trails which give me a little bit of a higher altitude hike, but without the crowds of Open Space trails.  There are numerous trails in Clear Creek County that can be found on their website here. 

I hiked Warren Gulch last week, and while the website gave good directions on how to get to the hike, they left out that there is no parking at the trailhead, the road is a dirt  single two track that continues up the Gulch with no place to turn around if another car comes, or if you want to turn back.  However, once I found the trail and parked, I did end up having a great hike.  It was just a little dicey to get there.