SAN ISABEL NATIONAL FOREST - WHITESTAR (July 4, 2008)

Independence Day Weekend 2008 sent us to back to WhiteStar, one of our top 5 campgrounds. It is located between Leadville and Buena Vista on the shores of Twin Lakes Reservoir. This campground should be kept a secret from the general camping population. We were in site 6, which is the absolute best site in the campground.

The roads to WhiteStar are all paved, and we recommend taking US 24 west through Colorado Springs instead of I-70 through Leadville or US 285 to Buena Vista. It may be OK to take I-70 up if you know traffic will be light, but go home through Colorado Springs. Never take 285 through Fairplay as that route is too much back and forth.

 

Site 6 is very long and secluded. The Porta-bote parks nicely next to the Outback. A water spigot (no threads) is available right next to this site. Before setting up camp, stop at the dump station to fill your fresh water tank.

 

 The kids brought their boats along again for this trip.

 

Our stupid motor would not start. At home it started on the 4th pull after sitting in our basement all winter, but at 9,300 feet, it would not start. I tried choke, no choke, half choke, but nothing worked. Twice it started only to run for 10 seconds and die. We'll try again next year after the motor gets an oil change and tune-up.

 

Always creative, Lea does some pencil sketches of the scenery. She has so many pencils at her disposal but they all look the same to me.

 

Here we are touring the campground.

 

Courtney chose the menu for this trip. Look at those killer BLT's, strawberries, and chocolate we had for lunch.

 

Kendal and Lea play backgammon in the Outback.

 

We took an afternoon trip to Leadville since it is only about 30 minutes from Whitestar. On July 4, there is still snow in the mountains above 10,000 feet.

 

Downtown Leadville strives to maintain the old town look.

 

The best fudge in the nation is at Hundley's. We stocked up on plenty and even had some left to take home.

 

Hundley's sells these cool candle pies that look and smell like the real thing.

 

Grilled peppers and chicken kabobs. Sweet! I basted everything with a Teriyaki sauce right before removing the skewers from the grill.

 

Courtney catches a movie on her DVD player before going to sleep.

 

On Sunday morning we made fruit-filled campfire pies. The kids had fun with this activity and the pies were pretty good.

 

Lea sets Cameron's pie iron into place for cooking. All you do is butter two slices of bread, place one slice in the iron, add filling, top with the other slice of bread, and then heat over hot coals.

WhiteStar ranks as one of our top 5 camping destinations. We'll be back every chance we get.

 

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