Family in High Places
My roots in camping started with my cousins. We used to camp at the Spring Gulch Campground in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland every year when we were kids. Pops (grandpa) had a motorhome, my aunts and uncles had trailer campers, and my family had a pop-up camper. Camping was always a great family affair that resulted in funny stories and memories with each outing. We stopped camping together maybe a decade ago, so when I planned this road trip across the US, I knew I wanted to camp with my cousin Jay. Jay is 2 years younger than me, but looks like he could be 5 years older. He has a lion’s mane for hair, and loves “The Grateful Dead”. I wanted to write about him because I think his story is inspirational.
Jay and I camped along Piney Creek Road near Vail, Colorado. Jay actually lives year-round in Vail, Colorado, working as a lift operator at the Vail Ski Resort in the winter and bartender in the summer. He first started out there 3 years ago as a lift operator after deciding that engineering school and other “traditional” options weren’t right for him.
Jay genuinely enjoys the work he does, which to me, is the most important thing about earning a living. He loves snowboarding and operating a ski lift allows him to ride his snowboard every day of the winter. He is also a people-person and enjoys talking to people, which makes bartending a perfect job for him.
I have a huge amount of respect for his decision to make such a huge life-change from his original plans. Many people force themselves into undesirable careers because they think its right for them. He pushed himself to explore new and unique options and found the opportunity to work at and ride one of the best ski resorts in Colorado. He loves Colorado, loves snowboarding, camping, outdoor rock climbing and is living his best life.
Jay is really lucky that he lives close to amazing camping and backcountry wilderness. Vail is located right on top of the White River National Forest, which is home to 2.28 million acres of forest land… Many of that forest land allows you to drive up a forest road, pull off onto a level spot, and camp for a maximum of 14 days before you have to pick your stuff up and move over to the next spot.
Camping with Jay was just like good ol times when we were kids, except there was no RV, no running water, no electricity… Well, that’s not entirely true because, we did have Super Smash Bros…
We also hiked along Piney Creek to Piney Creek Falls. The trail, creek, and surrounding mountains were incredible, just look at the pictures. I wanted to hike more with him, but sadly, there wasn’t enough time to stay long in Vail.
I can honestly say that the same is true for every place I go on this trip. I wish I had more time. I love seeing all of these new places, but the experiences go by in a flash. I want to discuss this topic further in another blog post…
Anyway, I am extremely glad that I got to camp with Jay again and I hope that you find that he is as inspirational to you as he is to me!
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