This was our first day at Snow Mountain Ranch,  It is a YMCA of the rockies camp.  I can best describe it as a summer camp for families.  We took our popup because it was cheaper than getting a lodge and paying for meals.  We could bring our own food.

It was an interesting experience driving in the mountains.  I have not done it before and to start by hauling a camper was an interesting experience.  Once through Denver it was a long climb up then down a pass.  The trailer doesn’t travel well downhill so it was a little nerve racking in the traffic.  After a stop for gas we turned off the interstate and up and over Berthouds Pass and down in to Winter Park and on into SNR

When we got there we noticed all of the dead trees.  If you look at the pictures and see the red hill sides and dead trees they are from the Mountain Pine Beetle.  With the drought the last few years the trees are not able to fight off the beetles and the trees have been dying.  It is sad but not much can be done.

It was a windy first day and the kids flew the kite that we store in the pop up and rarely get to fly.  After we got set up and oriented with the area, we went to the program building where they were having an ice cream social and carnival.

While there we also signed up for the activities we wanted to do during our stay.  We signed up for the climbing wall, archery, the zipline.  There were also some free things we did also.

After the social we found the crafts area and Tracy and the kids made things out of beads.  Mary made a sand candle.  I wasn’t intrested in any craft except taking pictures.  There were hummingbird feeders and I had fun taking pictures of them and the mountains.