I actually like the eastern side of Glacier national forest for its great beauty. The problem with Glacier is that it really is a Summer camping experience. But if you look to the east, and you can bus your way over that winding road, the glaciers are really something to see.

Beamer and I have done all of the normal trails (Hermits, Bright Angel, Kabob and the Nortern ones as well), nave made it down to the mid-point and then one time have made it all the way down and back. Beamer did not appreciate that one though (heck, I was pooped too!). And the campgrounds of Mather are really a lot better than most national parks.

The Rocky Mountain national park is way too close to Denver and very crowded. There were only – perhaps – three or four camp sites that could be considered as fitting for a tent site that was more than a two-person. And the water stunk! That potable water should have had clarification tablets to clear it up.

The Gallo camp sites at Chaco Cultural National Historical Park, or whatever they want to call it – it is still Chaco Canyon, are a little more on the primitive side, but the ruins are vast and spectacular. So you get there by going some 15 miles over dirt roads. We have made all of the trails, except the one that goes to the top of the mesa overlooking the real big ruins at Pueblo Bonito. There is so much to do at that site that you wonder why go to Mesa Verde (especially when you have the Hovenweep very close by – Aztec Ruins are nearby but lack camp sites).

Just got a new Marmot LimeStone 6P and will go south this time with that big orange tent. Although we like the Kelty Trail Dome 6, had to replace it a couple of times due to sudden windstorms. Kept it though, as a back-up – but should not need that with the Marmot. We will be leaving the last week of April and be gone for the month of May – lots of places to go and see, some to hike – like the trail down from the Bandelier campground near Santa Fe.

But we camp out thirty days at a time, going to the four corners of the Mountain West. In New Mexico it it Chaco Canyon for its mysterious and captivating ruins. In Arizona I think it is the Chiracahua national monument, while a little crowded it has a thing that makes us want to go back. Colorado draws us to the Grand Junction area and its national monument before we head north to Absoraka national forest.

Each year we make two or three of those thirty day hikes, usually staying at a camp site for two or three nights. So, we do see a lot of the nicest camp grounds, and then there are some that are awful – but that is a part of the great trip around the Mountain West. In the California-Nevada region the Nevada Beach forest service campground draws us back again, and again.

These are a few of the best that we have been to, and we have enjoyed all of the experiences – including bad weather with snow and wind.