Days 6 through 8 - A pleasant view indeed

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We drove down to Buena Vista - we’ll Jon did since I basically sat in the back and did nothing. The town of Buena Vista is located in central Colorado roughly midway between Salida and Leadville . The area between Buena Vista and Salida is often referred to as the "Banana Belt", due to its relatively mild winters - I’m thankful that it’s not referred to as the “Banana Hammock Belt”.

The town lies at the base of the 14,000+ peaks of the Collegiate Peaks of the Sawatch Range. In summer, Buena Vista is a popular location for outdoor activities - whitewater rafting, fly fishing, mountain climbing etc. The town itself is pretty small. On the way up to our camping spot near Cottonwood Lake, it isn’t hard to take notice of the surrounding properties. I swear some of these houses are carbon copies of the houses shown in Footloose or a John Cougar Mellencamp music video.

I decided to leave the camera back in Denver, a decision I really regretted once we found a camping spot we liked. We were surrounded by trees and mountain views. Spotted one or two deer running through the surrounding bush. I’m still kicking myself for not bringing the camera.

Weather conditions weren’t perfect but that’s one of the factors that make camping fun. My tent was set up on a slight slope so I constantly had the sensation of sliding while trying to sleep on the first night. I’m very happy with my choice of sleeping bag as it was pretty cold during our stay. I really need to cut back on the horror movies involving campers and werewolves.

After some breakfast, we made the drive up Cottonwood Pass. Weather conditions were still a little sketchy so we didn’t hike around too much. Our next port of call was the Cottonwood Hot Springs. I now know what it feels like to be a potato or a plate of seafood. I was actually surprised at how draining the whole soaking thing can be. I was also a little put off by the number of walking carpets at the springs *urgh* - I wonder if full body hair nets are available.

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