We had Lizard Head Pass as a possible boondocking spot as we finished up our Chicago Basin trip and headed towards Telluride, but with peak season in the Colorado mountains there’s never a guarantee that you’ll get a good spot, let alone getting a spot at all.
Yahtzee! We scored big with a premium spot with 360 views, and texted the kids and Greg the coordinates since Shelby and Tom were visiting Mesa Verde National Park and Greg was doing some four-wheeling in the Jeep.
Funny that Shelby never got the text due to spotty cell service in the mountains, but as they were driving into Telluride they saw us up on the pass and knew where to find us. Apparently not many Audis towing RPods out here.
In The Mountains
A drone shot of our fantastic campsite.
Our spot at Lizard Head Pass was great for solar charging all the batteries if you can handle the wind from the exposure, and we tucked all the cars in a semicircle to block the wind along with any prying eyes that were wondering where those awesome campfire cooking smells were coming from.
Light and Bright
Very kind and thoughtful of Shelby to pick and arrange a floral bouquet for Colette inside the Pod.
Around The Campsite
Colette took a quick scan around the campsite. Tom and Greg making breakfast. Shelby tending fire. Jim drinking coffee and being mostly useless. This is camping.
Kicked Back
The kids relaxing after a hard backpacking trip.
Into The Woods
Tom heads out to cut down some timber for the fire. Greg brought a bundle of firewood, but there’s something about strolling into the woods with an axe that just makes a man feel like a man.
Speaking of campfire cooking smells… The pictures don’t do justice to the amazing job that Greg and Tom did for the three days we "suffered" in the mountains.
Bacon and eggs, slow-smoked bratwurst (a Tom specialty apparently), hamburgers as big as your head, this campsite could put a cardiologist’s kids through college.
Tool For The Job
Everybody uses an AK-47 bayonet to cook with…
Master At Work
No better person to have cooking on the campfire! These brats were almost as good as the legendary Moose Camping brats.
Having Fun
Colette got this great impromptu shot of fun while cooking. It makes me happy to see simple pleasures being enjoyed. Of course there’s an REI box off to the side…
Brazilian Steakhouse Campsite
This reminds me of the guys who come around your table at a Brazilian steakhouse and scrape the meat off of the long skewers.
What A Feast
Now THIS is what dinner looks like! Note the Voss water bottle proudly displayed.
Nom Nom Nom
Greg and Tom CRUSHED it on the grill for breakfast. They are hired.
Uncertainty
Greg ponders whether the bayonet is really the proper way to open the burger meat.
Watching and Not Learning
What it’s like drinking beer and watching somebody else cook. Check out those amazing skewers loaded up with a Third World amount of meat that’s going to be consumed in a single sitting.
OSHA Approved
Everybody chops wood in flip-flops… Crushes can on forehead! Gotta have your audio way up for this one.
Car camping (or Pod camping) is always a very different experience than backpacking due to amount of stuff that you can have. We made the most of the stuff and thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of our "luxury" camping time at Lizard Head Pass.
I had planned on setting up the tripod and getting some great astrophotography as this is known as a dark sky area, but we were food-coma-sleeping as soon as the fire was doused every night!
Sticking Up
The sun makes for great light play.
Literal Car Camping
When you just don’t feel like setting your tent up in the dark, the Subaru will do…
Circle The Wagons
Our little spot high in the San Juan Mountains.
Free Dog
Belly Buttons decided to hang out with us since we had the tasty food smells. Pretty sure Shelby is eating lemons.
Dasani Voss. AKA Greg.
The Durango-Silverton train had Dasani water bottles in our first-class car, and the attendant told Greg to take all he wanted. He promptly filled his backpack water bladder with them, earning him the trail name “Dasani”. While the rest of us are drinking water filtered from a stream, super-posh Dasani is drinking $60 worth of water…
Shelby and Tom upped the game by picking up a glass Voss water bottle in Telluride and christening Greg as “Dasani Voss” in a formal ceremony around the campfire. Forever the nickname shall stick.
NOTE: If Dasani or Voss would like to sponsor RoamingTogether to get some much-unneeded exposure, we are easily influenced and open to negotiations for blatant uninfluenced product placement 🙂
Dasani Meet Voss
Greg is overjoyed with his gift of Voss water. Kids got jokes!
From here Tom and Shelby will head back to their very unhappy cats, Greg and I will backpack into Navajo Basin to climb some more 14ers, and Colette is going to enjoy some more "me time" by herself camping in the Pod with the amazing views.
Navajo Basin will wrap up our 10 week road trip, then we’ll be headed back to the cabin to experience what normal life is like and to get a vacation from vacation.
Lizard Head Pass Hail
Colette was lucky enough to get some of the hailstorms that Greg and I experienced in Navajo Basin. The campsite doesn’t look so awesome and inviting whe it’s wet and soggy!
