Colorado author lists state's top camping spots

By MILES BLUMHARDT, FORT COLLINS COLORADOAN

Fort Collins resident Sarah Ryan has been one busy mom.

She was very pregnant with her first child while researching the fourth edition of "Colorado Camping'' (Moon Outdoors, $18.99), which was released in June. Fortunately, she also wrote the book's third edition in 2004 when she was much more carefree and traveled more than 11,000 miles visiting nearly 500 campgrounds in four months of nonstop research.

That research during the past several years allowed her to significantly reduce the hours on the road and in campsites for her latest release, but still she towed her baby, Wynona, and husband, Travis Schmidt, along on as many research assignments as possible.

"I feel very lucky to be able to write while having a family,'' said Ryan, whose daughter is now 14 months old. "I couldn't do another four-month trip with a baby in tow, but now that I'm a mother, I do even more camping (in smaller chunks) than I ever did before. Our daughter sleeps like a rock in her Peapod. She's already been on nine camping and hut trips, and we are planning more.''

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