Lake Tahoe Archives - Tena Stetler

Sep 10th Wow, in RMNP Mother Nature Continues to Thwart our Plans

You’ll remember back in June we traveled to Lake Tahoe to find three inches of snow at our camp ground and snow flurries during our stay. Heck we left Colorado the end of May amid 10 inches of snow. Well, Mother Nature continues to frown on us.

Mueller State Park as the fog lifts

Don’t get me wrong, our camping trips this year were still wonderful. A time to unplug and relax, but sometimes it was harder than others. Trips to Mueller State Park and Cheyenne Mountain State Parks were fantastic. However…

RMNP camping site view from behind our fifth wheel

For Labor Day Weekend, we packed up the new fifth wheel and hit the road for Rocky Mountain National Park. Usually one of our favorite camping trips. It’s a dry camping destination, in other words no power, sewer, and water is only available at several locations within the park but not at each campsite. Which is normally just fine with us. We have solar panels on the fifth wheel which meets our needs. The only thing not available by solar is air conditioning. Now who would have thought you’d need air conditioning in RMNP in September at over 9,000 feet? We sure didn’t. However, we would be wrong. The weather forecasters predicted 70 for the highs. Wrong. It was 88 to 90 degrees at our camp site during the day. We arrived Friday evening at dusk. The day time temp was cooling down, so we opened the windows in the fifth wheel, started a campfire, and relaxed toasting marshmallows and making s’mores.

Mystic, Wow would you look at this view!

We spent the following days of the holiday weekend driving the roads in RMNP in the comfort of our air conditioned truck. Why you ask? Because the sweltering heat inside the fifth wheel (no AC) was just to dang hot until evening. Hiking early, early morning was okay, but once the sun was up for a few hours, too hot for humans, dog, parrot and turtle. Yep, we became nocturnal campers. LOL

The drive up Trail Ridge Road was interesting, not nearly as many sightings of elk and other wild life as previous years. Too dang hot. They were bedded down somewhere in the shade below timberline. Even at the top of Trail Ridge Road, around 12,200 feet in altitude it was still warm enough to be comfortable in shorts, flip flops and tank tops. Weird. Usually coats, jeans, and shoes are required up there in September. Not this year.

The evenings were cool and the elk, deer, and other wild life wandered the meadows and crossed the creek in the moonlight.

Mystic checking out our picnic site

Even though we were inconvenienced by the heat, RMNP is still spectacular. But next year, we’ll try scheduling our RMNP camping trip for later in September. A bit of snow and cold, we can handle—heat, not so much.

Just one more camping trip left this season, then heartbreak of winterizing the fifth wheel and putting it in storage until next year’s camping adventures.

Taco napping in her carrier/backpack as we stop for lunch off Trail Ridge Road

Posted in My Say What Blog and tagged camping, Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado, Fifth wheel, Hot weather, Lake Tahoe, Mueller State Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, snow by Tena Stetler with 2 comments.

Jun 6th Not Quite the Road Trip From Hell, But…

By now you know my trips wind up being the road trip from hell. So, why would I expect anything different? In my defense, who could have known that when we scheduled a California road trip a few days before Memorial Day Weekend, we’d be leaving Colorado in ten inches of snow. Really?! Now keep in mind we’re traveling with our new larger fifth wheel on it’s inaugural trip. The trailer is a little over seven feet longer at thirty-seven and a half feet, verses our old one measuring thirty feet long we’d had for fifteen years. It was time for a change. You would think driving it wouldn’t be much different, but you’d be wrong, the tail swing of the longer one made for an interesting trip. But my husband took it all in stride. Bless his heart. Although our parrot, Taco, was displeased when he fell asleep after a long day of driving when she was conversing with him. LOL Pssst…don’t forget to enter Beach Blanket Book Giveaway below.

We crossed Wyoming in a blizzard leaving several inches of snow in its wake. Spent the night in Rock Springs waking up to more of the fluffy white stuff on the ground. Okay, its Wyoming, we kinda expected that. The state is synonymous with wind and spring snow. But rain and snow showers, including hail across Nevada and Utah was not a pleasant experience. Then lo and behold the sun peeked through momentarily in Zepher Cove at Lake Tahoe. Wind whipped the white capped waves crashing onto the beach. Braving the cold wind off the lake, we donned our coats and walked along the beach. Then we stared slacked-jawed at the twenty something males standing on the beach shirtless, shoe-less, and in shorts attempting to impress their group of friends. I guess we should add clueless to that description! LOL We shook our heads.

Returning to the roomy new fifth wheel, we watched a movie, ate popcorn, and went to bed. The next morning, yep, you guessed it big, white, storybook snowflakes floated through the air, but didn’t stick. Still our friends from Las Vegas, Nevada, who joined us, enjoyed the snow as did their two dogs. By afternoon the sun was back and we strolled along the beach with our dog as wildlife scampered on the shore and ducks paddled across the water. A few gulls screamed as they dove for dinner on the lake.

Family commitments required we leave Lake Tahoe after only a few days and head to northern California where we encountered a bit of rain but otherwise pleasant temperatures. Met up with a friend and fellow author in Elk Grove, CA for lunch and had a wonderful chat. On the trip back to Colorado we encountered windy conditions in Utah and Wyoming, Gee imagine that! LOL But other than that the trip was pleasant. The vibrant colors of the Wind River Valley in Wyoming are amazing. We stopped in Riverton, Wyoming to visit with friends. My award winning book AN ANGELS UNINTENTIONAL ENTANGLEMENT was set in Riverton. Where Warrior Angel, Caden goes, trouble follows until he discovers a badly beaten woman barely clinging to life. Unprepared for the entanglement she brings to his doorstep, will he move heaven and earth to save her?Yep, that was a blatant plug for my book. LOL I couldn’t help it. You owe it to yourself to take a peek. https://www.amazon.com/Angels-Unintentional-Entanglement-Demons-Witch-ebook/dp/B07DYWKLYK

The moral of this story is don’t plan a road trip before Memorial Day, with a new fifth wheel and a strict schedule. Mother Nature will mess with you every time.

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