Monday July 11^th. Hello from Colorado!!!!!!!!

 

It’s been about a month since I left Santa Fe and you would think I’d keep notes for the Blog but I’ve procrastinated and have nothing to show but random thoughts so here I am putting down my thoughts and experiences.

 

I’m in my campsite and sitting in my Gazebo at Target Tree campground about 25 miles west of Durango, Colorado. I’m getting a cool breeze and an occasional shower thanks to the Southwest monsoon which has returned today.

 

I’ll get back to the present in a bit but let me catch up on what I’ve done and seen in the last month.

 

From Santa Fe I went to an Army Corp of Engineers campground on Lake Abiquiu in northern New Mexico for 9 days. 

It’s a nice campground with stunning scenery but it is open and dry and hot and dusty and the wind blows like crazy and it’s in the middle of nowhere! One gas station with a grocery store for 30 miles.  Good prices though $6 a nite no hookups, $8 a nite with electric and water…..Senior rate. For those of you who know who Georgia O’Keefe is she lived in this area and painted much of the landscape here. Her ashes were spread on the top of the big mesa in the photo. I ended up here due to the forest closures from the fire in the photo. 

 

 That is the smoke plume from the big forest fire near Mora, NM that’s been on the news for months, that was 30 to 40 miles east of me. The days were hot and extremely dry but chilly at night. The host hooked me up with an electric site for 4 days of my stay which was very nice. There was little to do but hike but I was happy to have an affordable campsite to makeup for the cancellations. I had an abundance of sunshine and my solar panels kept my batteries topped off. I was able to run fans and watch Albuquerque TV stations that are rebroadcast via remote transmitters in rural areas. I have watched the same stations at 3 spots in Colorado. The nights were and have continued to be cool enough to use the electric blanket and my batteries and inverter continue to provide for my needs. In the photo you can see the 3 blue top Optima deep cycle batteries under my bed and the red item beside them is the 1500 watt inverter whose output I then interface to the electrical grid of my camper. I added another 100 watt solar panel on the roof of the camper to go with my 100 watt panel I can deploy on a 50 foot cord and it helps significantly.

 

 

On June 20^th I entered Colorado and went to Pagosa Springs and got a campsite in a dispersed camping area about 5 miles outside of town.

I’m downloading a video about my campsite to Google. But briefly dispersed camping is camping on federal or state lands in undeveloped areas that people have used in the past, there is no water or toilet and there may be a rock fire ring but I got 10 TV stations. It’s free camping and I really enjoy the pureness of the back to nature experience. I spent a week in my private little spot. My nearest camping neighbors were a quarter of a mile away. One morning I had a group of 5 Doe come walking by 50 yards from my camper. I’m sure there was a buck nearby but I never saw him. I took numerous hikes on multi purpose trails and almost got run down my mountain bikers 3 times, it seems they have difficulty in yelling lookout or I’m gonna run your butt over. I gave them a few suggestions as to riding etiquette. I ride a multi purpose trail an average of 3 days a week when I’m home and always alert other users to my presence,  My 5^th day there the news reported that the Forest Service had lifted use restrictions in those New Mexico National Forests that had them in place, that came one day after my last cancelled reservation would have ended. The summer monsoon rains were providing enough moisture to allow the change but it also raised concerns about debris flows in the burn scar areas of the big fires.

 

Pagosa Springs is a cute town but it’s too tourist oriented for me but it was nice to have some shopping nearby. The drive from New Mexico is beautiful with many rock formations and stunning forests. I drove through the town of Chama ,NM and in mid September I will return for 2 nights and cross my path while taking a ride on the Cumbres-Toltec Scenic Railway that uses old steam locomotives for a ride over the Rockies from New Mexico into Colorado and it goes to just over 10,000 feet and it will be Aspen color time in the Rockies. My camera will be very busy!

 

From Pagosa Springs I took a small jump to a campground along the Vallectio Reservoir just east of Durango but not before going to a dump station about 5 miles from my campsite. As I was pulling into the gas station that provides the dump station I noticed my pipe from the poopy tank had broken loose and the pipe was dragging on the road. I immediately stopped and got out some rope and tied back up to the camper frame and dumped my tanks! I went a mile down the road to a Walmart and got some bookshelf brackets and used them to reattach the pipe. It won’t break cause I’ve got my eye one it after 2 breaks in 2 years. I have nightmares about the mess it could have been.

 

I’ve been to Vallecito Reservoir before and it’s a beautiful setting. I had a chance to reserve my favorite campsite there for 2 nites so I grabbed it a few months before leaving home. Even camping trips require planning and reservations nowadays. I feel like I’m in a nest in this campsite the huge trees seem to cradle you. It was a very simple 2 days of hiking and reading and admiring the view. 

 

 

 

I next spent 7 days including the 4^th of July in Durango, Colorado. It’s a busy little town in the summer and I enjoy it. I was hoping to enjoy fireworks but they were cancelled for the 3^rd year in a row due to drought. I stayed in a Forest Service campground just outside of town and it was the first place that I was allowed to have a campfire. I went looking for some firewood to cut in the forest but had no luck. This year the campgrounds are selling firewood for $8 a bundle and it may have 8 pieces. I said no thank you I rarely buy firewood.

 

From Durango I came a mere 25 miles west to Target Tree campground and I’ve been here for 6 days and am leaving tomorrow. It’s a nice campground but has too much hiway noise during the day since I’m just off the main hiway. I spent a few days exploring some nearby dispersed camping areas and they were on some dirt/rock roads that had some rough spots. I was thinking of finding a dispersed spot near here but the choices were slim. Then last Friday, July 8^th, shortly after getting off one of those dirt/rock roads I blew a tire on my pickup. A nice gentleman stopped and helped me change my flat. I was fortunate in that Durango has a Discount Tire, who I deal with and who replaced my tire under warranty the next day. I’m going to be a little more selective on the roads I travel. The truck will be 21 years old in November and is at 206,500+ miles so I want to be gentle with it! In my explorations I did run across 2 gems, a Black Bear and some down Aspen that I cut up with my battery powered chainsaw. That night I had my first campfire of the trip. 

 

 So I’m going to head to Mesa Verde National Park tomorrow and stay in Morefield campground that I know very well. It has so-so wifi so I’ll be attempting to post this stuff as well as uploading new photos.

 

Wed July 20^th

I stayed 3 days a Mesa Verde and enjoyed my stay and saw lots of deer as usual and as usual the wifi was a big disappointment. I tried numerous times to upload photos and it always failed so I quit trying. But I was able to have campfires 2 nights with starry skies. I visited Spruce Tree House along with the Mesa Loop and the Fairview Mesa level sites. I felt sorry for visitors who didn’t get to see the signature cliff dwellings the Park offers since the road to them was closed for repairs. The Park maintenance has to be done in the temperate months. I believe they are open year round conditions(snow) permitting. In the 90’s I once stayed at the Fairview Lodge in mid-September for 1 nite when I had a 2 week training class at Lucent Technologies in Denver and I headed to the mountains for the weekend. I saw a dusting of snow in one of the high passes.

 

I thought about it and that was my 8^th visit to Mesa Verde since the early 90’s. I keep getting drawn back to this region and I do believe my spirit has some past connections here. I had fortunate timing, I got to see a traditional Navajo dance and drum group from the area perform at the campground Amphitheater.  

 

 

 

So last Friday I came here to this dispersed area 5 miles up the mountain from Monticello, Utah. I’m at 8800 ft and I’ve got a spectacular view and no other campers in sight at this point. 

 

I’ve had deer visit every day but today! Saw 2 fawns crossing the road with Mom when I came back up the mountain from town yesterday. When I was here in 2020 one of the campsites I had was visited daily by Mom’s and newborns due to a nearby Spring. The Monsoon rains here are less frequent and intense compared to over near Durango and northern New Mexico. Fire restrictions are still in place here but as soon as I return to Colorado I can have one. I’ve been hiking daily in the area as well as spending some time in the Monticello library and they have fine wifi and I was able to upload new photos and videos yesterday and I plan to return tomorrow and post new photos and comments. I am fortunate that my stay is occurring when Pioneer Days are occurring, they celebrates Brigham Young’s journey and I was here for it in 2020. They have a Parade down Main Street on Saturday with old wagons, tractors, some floats and other stuff along with a flyover by 2 small planes down Main St. Starting Friday they have a fast pitch softball tournament with teams from the Region and a free concert Friday night. And Sunday night they say there are fireworks. I’m going to Ouray on July 28^th and I plan to visit their library and post photos from Pioneer Days.

 

The Abajo Mountain range I’m on is pretty neat, it was created by Magma pushing the land up but it never erupted like a typical volcano. Lots of the rocks around here are unusual. The rise in elevation from town is pretty dramatic and I’ve watched the outside temp drop 5 degrees going up the mountain to my campsite. There are a few photos from an overlook less than 5 miles west of here looking northwest into the lower areas of Canyonlands National Park. On a day like today it was probably near 110 degrees in the lower areas of Canyonlands where I’ve camped before.

 

One negative of the trip is the altitude seems to be bothering me more than I would have expected. I’m sleeping poorly and it makes the days a bit uncomfortable.

So I'll sign off for now, I'll be heading back into Colorado on Monday 7/25 and hopefully I''ll have some stuff to post from Ouray. This link will get you to the new and old photos I've posted. https://photos.app.goo.gl/g3iGwJA3byeTQpfX8