An Interesting Park in Golden Colorado - Sept 16, 2009

We were on the road shortly after 8 am to drive to Golden, Colorado. It was a long drive without much scenery. Some views were good, but it was mostly flat.  We wanted to spend some time in the Denver area and we planned on staying at a state park, but when we called we learned they did not have any open sites. So I called a few places to find an RV park with a site that could take a 38-foot RV from Wednesday through the weekend, and wasn’t too pricey. Any one of those 3 criteria knocked out several options, so when I found Chief Hosa Park in Golden, Colorado for about $30 a night, I took it. We drove to thru Denver on Interstate 70, which was busy but not traffic-laden since we were going thru it around 2:30 in the afternoon. We drove on to Golden, which has an elevation of 7,700 feet. Our RV has a good diesel engine and a willing attitude, but I don’t think she likes mountains very much. She cruised into the Denver area at 65 mph but on the other side of Denver when we started up the mountains, she slowed down to 45. Oh well, that wasn’t really a problem because the big trucks were going about the same speed. Eventually we turned into Chief Hosa Park. We discovered that it is the oldest RV Park in the Denver area. There are several interesting aspects of this park…

(1) When we paid at the gate, the manager handed us a pamphlet about bears….what to do when you meet a bear, how to avoid attracting them, that sort of thing. Oddly enough, I haven’t had to worry about attracting bears before. My cat Missy started sitting in the window watching everything in sight – I think she wants to see a bear, but I hope she is disappointed!

(2) These sites were not really made for 38’ rigs. We had to back into our site, and it was sort of like fitting a size 16 lady into a size 12 stretch pants – we got the job done but it’s a tight fit and there isn’t much room left. To get all the way in we backed up into the site pretty far. Since the site isn’t very level to begin with and a lot steeper at the edge, we were nowhere near level. We were also tilting strongly to the left, so we set the jacks down to level the RV. When the level indicator said we were pretty level, we stopped, but 30 seconds later we were listing to the right. We went thru that routine about 4 times. Something seems to be different out here….I think it’s the air. 

(3) Water….. After we made the reservation we found out that although we can hook up to water, there is no way to attach a sewer line. So, of course, we want to avoid using more water in the RV than necessary. Since this park has showers, it should be OK to use those. Randy found out it costs a quarter to take a shower. Not a lot of money, but that is a little something they forgot to tell us at the office!

(4) The air. Or rather, the lack of air. When God made this country, He made it very beautiful but He didn’t add much air. I couldn’t figure out why I suddenly wasn’t feeling well until Randy mentioned that it was harder to breath up here. We were planning to bike ride a lot, but I don’t think that is likely to happen. Just walking seems to be a challenge at this point!

But off in the distance is the soft blue haze of the Rockies. And it’s quiet as it can be here. So if the bears stay away and I learn to breathe better, this will be a wonderful week!