It is Friday morning about 4:40 am, Pia and I woke up about 3:00 to sit out and see the stars, that lasted about 30 seconds, and we came back in the bus.  Naturally I could not really get back to sleep, so here I sit.  We have been on the Grand Mesa since Sunday, we are dry camping, which means we have no hooks ups at all.  The bus holds 74 gallons of fresh water and we were about full when we arrived.  We use the generator for an hour and a half every day to keep the batteries hot.  This is the longest we have dry camped, and it is working out fine.  It is 4:48 now and the dawn is creeping in from the East.

The Grand Mesa is a hidden gem; I have never stayed anywhere more beautiful than this campground.  There are over 300 lakes up here on the Mesa, almost all of them are stocked with trout.  When we arrived on Sunday we first stopped at the visitor center.  I was speaking to the forest ranger and buying a map of the area.  I told him we were headed over to Jumbo campground.  He suggested that we take a look at Ward Lake, which is ½ a mile from the center, before we head to Jumbo, he personally liked the campground better.  After a miss turn or two, and having to unhook the jeep so we could get turned around after going down the wrong road we arrived at the entrance to the campground.  We parked the bus on a turnout in front of the campground and took the jeep to have a look.  There is an upper loop that is heavily wood with ponderosa pines, very dark, and there is a lower loop that is much more open with a beautiful view of the lake.  We found a spot up on a hill overlooking the lake, and it is spectacular.

We are at 10,173 ft above sea level.  Ward Lake is an 85 acre lake, 72 feet deep, and the most azure blue color you can imagine.  Monday we kayaked, and fished the lake, which was stocked with 2,900 rainbow trout that same day.  We have done well fishing here and have been eating fish almost every night.  This is the highest, to the best of my memory, I have ever camped.  Today in Grand Junction, CO which is about 60 miles away, the high temp is forecast to be 95.  Our high up here is forecast to be just under 70.  We have no cell service, and no internet, which is nice for a change.  I was worried about this altitude, especially for Pia, but she is handling it well, and neither of us has shown any signs of altitude sickness.

We have seen quite a few mule deer, a ton of golden mantel squirrels, chipmunks, and quite a few marmots.  We have a weasel that runs around the campground looking in every hole in the ground for something.  Yesterday he found what I think was a mole, and seemed very pleased with himself.  We are still waiting to see a beaver, bear, and moose.  We did see elk in Ouray, but none here, I am not sure if they are up on the Mesa or not.  We did try fishing a beaver pond yesterday that is back behind the campground, after a long walk through very marshy ground, we came up empty, but it was interesting to see how amazing those beavers dams and houses are.

There are porcupines here we took an evening walk the other night, while sitting on a log a little off the trail, I looked back behind me, and there was a huge porcupine strolling down the trail.  He did not seem to be bothered by us at all, and I had no intention of giving him a reason to.