280 



RECREATION. 



severe storms are infrequent, though mod- 

 erate showers, and often flurries of snow 

 in September, are common. In the lower 

 parts of the mountains June and October 

 may be added to the vacation months. 



During July, August and September any- 

 one in reasonable health may safely camp 

 under canvas in any part of this vast re- 

 gion. The game is found during this time 

 at the higher altitudes, chiefly above 9,000 

 feet, for the cool days and the absence of 

 flies and mosquitoes are appreciated by 

 animals as much as by mankind. Fish 

 may be found almost anywhere. It is, 

 then, a question of accessibility in the se- 

 lection of a camping place. From Denver 

 one may start with a wagon and in 2 to 6 

 days' drive, over fairly good mountain 

 roads, reach almost any desired kind of 

 camping ground. The nearer parks are 

 almost devoid of big game, though grouse 

 and trout abound. The ground ascends 

 so rapidly that within 50 miles of Denver 

 one may reach mountain peaks which are 

 covered with perpetual snow. Most of the 

 valley land within that distance is used 

 for ranching or grazing purposes, but 

 within a mile of the road may be found 

 excellent camping grounds. 



One of the most beautiful camping re- 

 gions in the world, for one content to do 

 without big game, lies some 70 miles North- 

 west of Denver. This is Estes Park. 

 Most of the land, unfortunately, belongs 

 to an English company, so that camping « 

 degenerates into living in a rented cottage 

 or at a hotel; but take a wagon and a stout 

 team, with a few extra saddle horses, and 

 push up Clear creek, past Idaho Springs, 

 till at Empire, about 8,000 feet high, you 

 strike the Eastern end of Berthoud pass. 

 Then for a dozen miles you toil over the 

 rugged range of mountains into Middle 

 Park, and you have taken the first great 

 stride in reaching one of the finest camp- 

 ing grounds imaginable. You may drive 

 a day's journey to the North, and find, at 

 Grand lake, a little village made up largely 

 of the cottages of summer residents ; and all 

 about, in the mountains, lonely spots 

 where you may occupy as much space with 

 your camp as you please. Your ponies 

 may graze in open spots, the woods fur- 

 nish you free fuel, the streams the purest 

 of Water, and if you have selected the right 

 place, no ne ghboring camp need interfere 

 with your supply of fish. Grouse are fairly 

 abundant, but few if any deer are to be 

 found. You are still too near civilization. 



Or you may 'turn to the Westward, cross 

 Grand river, stop a day at Hot Sulphur 

 Springs, find glorious fishing in the Trouble- 

 some and neighboring streams, shoot a few 

 sage grouse, and eat them with ybur bacon 

 and trout in content, for you are reaching 

 the border of the land of the mule deer. 

 In s or 6 days from Denver you should be 



in Egeria Park; and almost anywhere v for 

 50 miles to the North and West you may 

 camp, and have venison the next day. 



If your time is more limited you may take 

 the Denver and Rio Grande or the Mid- 

 land Railway from Denver at night, get off 

 the train the next morning at Wolcott, 

 Glen wood, Newcastle or Rifle, outfit con- 

 veniently and at moderate expense, and 

 reach the same region in 2 or 3 days' travel, 

 or come to fairly good ground in a single 

 day. 



Many other localities in Colorado are 

 excellent, but these specific examples will 

 answer for the present. 



You may drive your wagon to a favor- 

 able spot and unhitch your team, and 

 you practically own all the earth in sight 

 of your tent door. You must be provided 

 with a license from the county clerk. See 

 that you put out your camp fire, and obey 

 the perfectly reasonable game laws; but 

 aside from these things you are a free man 

 in a free country. 



It is generally better to put up a tent in 

 substantial style than to stop at a deserted 

 cabin, except to escape a storm The In- 

 dians learned, ages ago, that it was not 

 well to camp many weeks in one spot, since 

 disease visits those localities where im- 

 perfect methods of caring for the waste of 

 the camp exist. About the deserted cabin 

 many sources of possible danger may be 

 found, because of the carelessness of pre- 

 vious occupants; while your open camp in 

 the woods is certain to be healthful for 

 some weeks at least. 



The camping grounds selected are usu- 

 ally so high up the streams that the water 

 supply is pure One should never know- 

 ingly use water which may have been con- 

 taminated by some stray case of typhoid 

 fever farther up the creek; but such a con- 

 tingency is rather remote in the moun- 

 tains of Colorado. 



Settled in camp in one of Nature's great 

 sanatoria; we breathe the purest of air, 

 because we can not possibly get any 

 other kind. We are practically out of 

 doors the whole 24 hours. We have plain, 

 substantial food for 2 reasons; camp life 

 does not readily lend itself to the prepara- 

 tion of fancy dishes, and the appetite en- 

 gendered by the vigorous out-of-door exer- 

 cise calls rather for baked beans and bacon 

 than for pate de foie gras. The epicure who, 

 in town, considers the frying of a steak a 

 capital offence, learns that for a 40-mile 

 horseback ride over the hills a pound of 

 fried venison goes much farther than a 

 pound of broiled beef. It has much better 

 staying powers. Nature does not err in 

 leading the camper to prefer the articles 

 of slow, perhaps difficult digestion, to the 

 more easily assimilated food suitable for 

 the dweller in cities. 



Were you troubled with insomnia when 



