Goldilocks would say, "This is just right!"

Up until the time we moved the motor home to Caddis Flats, we have had pre-arranged reservations that we made at the very beginning of the summer. That's unusual for us, but this is an unusual summer in more than one way. We are hearing stories from campground offices and hosts that this is the busiest they have ever been. It seems that Covid took away many summer vacation options, and we have heard that RV sales are at an all-time high. RVing allows people to vacation while social distancing, and Colorado has encouraged its citizens to get out in the fresh air. So now we are reservation-less, and competing with the throngs of travelers that need RV sites. So the best option for us seems to be first-come-first-served campgrounds. We found an option like that at Lizard Head Pass.

At the foot of some of the most beautifully-colored mountains in Colorado, this option is on BLM land so it is completely free! Campers are allowed to set up camp wherever they can find a flat and open spot. It sounds too good to be true! The only problem is the road getting to those spots is rough and rocky, and the pull-off from the highway is steep and precarious. We decided that it was "too rough" for our motor home. So we looked for another option. 

We found another BLM free campground just off a different paved road at Fall Creek Recreation site. This could be a good option, but it was "too isolated" from the places we wanted to hike.

We also checked out Cayton Forest Service Campground, and would love to stay there some time, but it was "too far" away. Then we found Sunshine Campground, with beautiful views and a few good-sized camp sites. But with no hook-ups it would be "too primitive" to stay very long. As we spent the day in the car touring through the available first-come-first-served campgrounds in the area, this is beginning to sound like the tale of Goldilocks--except Denisa's hair would qualify her as Silverlocks. We found the campgrounds too rough, too isolated, too far, and too primitive.  Then we pulled into Matterhorn Forest Service Campground, and Silverlocks found it was "just right."

The only problem with Matterhorn is that is has a permanent "full" sign out front. More than half of its sites are reserved, but we noticed that several of the first-come-first-served sites had dates on their posts that indicated they would be open the next day. So we stopped in to talk to the camp host to find the best strategy for getting one of those popular sites. His advice was to get here around 8:00 a.m. to get in line, so we set our alarm clock early the next morning.

We were still camping 40 minutes away, so Denisa drove the car to Matterhorn early to scope out the choices in the campground. She found site #2 that looked like it would be available, but campers actually have until noon to decide if they want to pay for another night. So Denisa left her jacket and chair on the post, and waited until the campers at #2 woke up.

When they came out to walk the dog, Denisa found out that they were indeed leaving today. So she let Mark know to head this way in the motor home. It took them the rest of the morning to get packed up, but we were pleased that we had found a great site in a great campground. This isn't the most efficient way to move about the country-side, as we basically burned a whole day getting moved 40 miles. But we're glad to be residents at Matterhorn today, even in this no hook-up site!

Our site has plenty of trees for the hammock, and a babbling brook that runs right beside those trees. It was a good place for a nap after the stress of moving today.

We have mountain views in every direction, and at 8,500 feet in elevation we are cool even in the afternoon.

We didn't have time for a long hike today, but we decided to explore around our new home. We headed up into the flower-lined mountains above the campground onto Priest Road . . .

until we got to Priest Lake about a mile away.

We were also walking around our new campground, checking out the other sites. We found that there are three full-hook-up sites that are first-come-first-served, and one of those is scheduled to be empty tomorrow. The campers in that site were gone most of the day, but we checked with them when they returned. They are indeed leaving, and we staked our claim on that site! We paid the camp host in advance for the full hook-up site, and the next morning we moved into one of the best sites in the entire Forest Service Campground world. We will be enjoying this spot for five more days, living in the lap of luxury with full hook-ups and great scenery and great neighbors. As Goldilocks--or Silverlocks--would say, "This is JUST RIGHT!"