"Moochdocking" in Breckenridge thanks to Jane & Klaus
On the way to Brekenridge, we stopped off in a town call "Fairplay." They has some very cool shops and the town definetly had that old west feel.
Really!? Twice in the same year, I’m never sick twice in the same year. But as I was going into the house sit in Golden I could feel it. Yvette had been sick and living in close quarters sharing germs is bound to happen no matter how careful you are with washing your hands and the like. It started with congestion in one ear, moved to the other, then to the throat, and round and round it went. As I write this, some two weeks later, I’m just coming out of the woods. But the day we left the house sit and headed to Breckenridge I was starting to feel like, well…BLAH! Jane and Klaus were two folks we met at the Tiger Rally in Leadville. Since we knew Jane was very good with many outdoor things including how to navigate with a map and compass, I thought it might a good idea for Yvette to inquire if Jane would do a little training with Yvette. Jane not only jumped at the chance but invited us to stay at their home in the process.
Jane & Klaus. Hiking behind their home.
Keeping up with Jane & Klaus
We arrived at their home in Breckenridge and backed into their driveway. A gorgeous view backdrop of some of Breckenridge’s famous mountains. I checked the altimeter on my phone and it said we were at 10,100 feet. The weather was just perfect, 80’s during the day and 40-50 at night. It made for some great sleeping weather. Which is exactly what I ended up doing during my stay there as my head felt like it had turned into a fishbowl combined with some real pressure and congestion in my ears. But even though I was a bit of a party pooper for most of the stay, Klaus kept me company and we shared stories for almost all of the 5 days that we were there. These folks have been boon-docking, backpacking, hiking a doing all kinds of other outdoor sports for about as long as I’ve been alive! And though I might be executing a slight faux pa, they could easily kick out butts when it comes to hiking endurance.
"Yea...so...what's for dinner?"
Jane took Yvette on a wildflower hike. She is truly amazing when it comes to all things natural in the mountains of Colorado. Yvette had a good three-hour lesson on the ins and outs of wildflowers, trees, and shrubs. Another day, she spent more time with Yvette going over map and compass use and Klaus and I talked about the ins and outs of different types of topographical software that might be handy when we start to look for camping off the grid. On the fourth day, Yvette, Jane, and Klaus hiked up to the ruins of an old cabin while I stayed behind. At the end of the day, we shared meals together and loads of stories that most of the time kept me distracted from whatever was going on with my biology. They even had a family of foxes that would cruise through their yard almost like clock-work. They had records of their observations that went back over two decades! On the fifth day, it was time to say, “So long.” and we headed back on the road south to a place called Eleven Mile Lake State Park. See you there!
Jane, Klaus and a small group of friends maintain the trails including various bridges.