Upper Stillwater Reservoir

Kelly and Baby Steffen had a little chat and decided that if we wanted to get one last camping trip in before the big arrival, we better do it now. For some strange reason, Baby Steffen wants to spend the last few months a little closer to home. So, we packed up the car and went for a trip.

The drive was gorgeous. We took the "scenic" route which took us through Park City, past a few reservoirs, and up and over a few mountain passes. We thought we would be sneaky and dodge traffic by ducking out of work a little early but we forgot that the retirees in their RVs would also be on the road at the same time. We finally left the RVs in the dust by taking the pictured "shortcut". I love aspen trees, so I didn't mind the extra time in the woods.

Camp was in the Ashley National Forest below the dam at Upper Stillwater Reservoir. A dam really only has one purpose in life - to hold back water, and it turns out our dam couldn't even do that. I guess it was leaking so bad that they had to drain the entire reservoir. At least, that's what we were told. The road and trails up to the top were closed (again, due to the leaking issue) so we had to take their word for it.

The creek was flowing so we could still get some fishing time in right next to our camp site. Our group also put together an adventure up to a high mountain lake, but as much as Kelly was begging me to do it (sarcasm alert) the 4WD road and the 3/4 mile scramble up at 10k+ feet elevation kept Kelly and I back at camp to prep dinner instead. Kelly did manage to pick up her first fish on a fly rod while we were waiting for the group to return home.

Kelly was quite a trouper. Even at home, I get a little grumpy if I have to use the facilities in the middle of the night - and our house is heated with a bathroom 15 feet away from our bed. But every time nature called, Kelly would get out of her sleeping bag, throw on her coat, unzip the tent, roll out of bed, hoist herself up, stumble to the other side of the campground in the pitch black, deal with the always pleasant campground bathrooms, then return. I was amazed that she had a smile on her face the whole weekend. Like I said...a trouper.

Good food. Good company. Good fun. Good trip. I can't wait to do this with Baby Steffen some day.