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Steamboat Springs — Armed with a new BAP tent, a bag of trail mix and an incredibly vague plan, I headed north last weekend to Wyoming.

The idea - which turned out to be a little premature, as camping in early May tends to get a little cold at night - was to go toward the state line through Walden, landing in the Medicine Bow National Forest, near Saratoga, Wyo.

The U.S. Forest Service keeps pretty clear updates of what campgrounds, hiking trails and other public land amenities are open; I learned that those updates should be confirmed with a phone call. After collecting additional supplies in Saratoga, I drove down the Scenic Snow Byway toward my intended destination, Ryan Park; according to the Internet, this campsite is open year-round.

A few wrong turns led me to the conclusion that Ryan Park might well be open year-round, but that it is beyond my navigation abilities to find it. A Forest Service road labeled with a camping sign offered a handy backup plan, and a tip from the driver of a mud-plastered pick-up landed me at Lincoln Park campground, looking out over North Brush Creek just on the edge of the forest.

More or less deserted in early May - for reasons that became painfully, shiver-inducingly obvious about 9 p.m. - Lincoln Park is a developed campsite with vault toilets, a creek overlook, camp grills and proximity to a crazy-steep hiking trail. I plan to head back there, and to the Turpin Reservoir site a few miles further up the road, later in the summer.

For the next month and a half, I've learned my lesson, and will be confining outdoor adventures to day trips in Routt County.

The marina at Steamboat Lake State Park is open, and the campsites open May 22. Stagecoach State Park has been letting boats and fishermen take advantage of its waters for a few weeks now. Both parks will be instituting frequent boat inspections throughout the summer to prevent the spread of invasive mussels.

Steamboat Lake and Stagecoach also offer camping, which I plan to check out after buying a sleeping bag, warm outdoor-oriented clothes, a sleeping pad and various other implements most reasonable people take with them on camping trips.

For information about state park and Forest Service recreation in Routt County, go to parks.state.co.us and www.fs.fed.us/r2/mbr.