Mileage:  67,049 Brown’s Creek San Isabel State Forest Road 272 Nathrop, Colorado

It has been so nice and cool at night, in the high 30’s and low 40’s.  We have been sleeping with the windows open and bundled up in blankets.  It feels really good after so many weeks of temperatures in the 90’s-100’s.

I followed Tim down the road to our new campsite on Forest Road 272. 

This is free dispersed camping.  You find a spot and stay for free for up to two weeks.  We need this spot to get us through Labor Day weekend.  It is also perfect for tonight because we wanted to take the Tincup Pass with the Jeep and spend the night somewhere along the way. 

We loaded the Jeep with everything we would need…sleeping bags and pads, the tent, food for lunch and dinner and breakfast and all kinds of other essentials like bear spray and bug spray!

First, we needed to travel back to St. Elmo where the Tincup Trail begins. 

These stands of birch trees were at about 10,000 feet. 

As we climbed in altitude, the trees were pines, straight and tall.

There were pretty mountain streams and lots of spectacular scenery.

There were a lot of chipmunks.  This one was enjoying a meal on the rock as we passed by.

There was an area where an avalanche wiped out all the trees above pushing them all the way down the mountain and across the road.  It was amazing to imagine the power of the landslide.

Tincup Pass is a designated 4×4 and OHV trail.  It is rated as difficult.  It certainly has some difficult areas but there are NO terrible obstacles to overcome.  The view is breathtaking.

At the top of the pass is the Continental Divide at 12,154 feet.  The Continental Divide runs mostly along mountain ridges from Canada and into South America.  The water on the east side of the ridge makes its way to the Atlantic Ocean.  All the water to the west eventually ends up in the Pacific Ocean.  It was very windy up on the ridge and we even had some black clouds and spitting rain. 

The trail becomes quite rough as you descend.

We had lunch at Mirror Lake.  The air was still crisp and the water was crystal clear.

We found our overnight campsite at Mirror Lake Campground.

We met another couple that had watched a moose swim across the lake and climb out onto the bank and up the mountainside.  I stood there with them chatting and we saw the moose again.  It was way to far away to get pictures.  The afternoon was spent quietly, watching the hillside for animals, watching the fish jumping in the lake, and reading.  We cooked our dinner and had a campfire.  We settled in the tent soon after dark.