Mountain in the mist

Fri, 8/14/09

West Fork NF CG, Pagosa Springs, CO: Rained all night last night. A nice, steady rain. Had the heat on again this morning while taking my shower. Washed my hair and luckily Mike had the generator running so I was able to blow it dry. We’re in a little, narrow valley and the escarpment above us was totally shrouded in low clouds. Mike started a fire and we sat outside enjoying that all morning. Felt pretty good. Before it started raining again we decided to go fill up the water jugs. Came back and sat inside and played Aggravation for a couple of hours. Mike finally won a game. Sprinkled off and on. I suggested we go transfer the water to the holding tank before it rained again. So, out we go and got it all set up and it started raining really hard. Go figure! Got the tanks filled and changed into some dry clothing and then back inside. I started a new book, “The Last Patriot” by Brad Thor. I just finished “Web of Evil” by J. A. Jance. Both pretty good. I had never read either authors, but we swapped some books with a couple we met in Monument Valley. Gave her some Dean Koontz. Mike is reading “Hole in the Rock”, an amazing read about Mormon early settlers. We plan on going into Pagosa Springs tonight to a movie—“Public Enemy”. They have a tiny little cinema on Main Street. Always fun to go to those old movie theaters.

The house--nice view of the mountains

The barn

Thu, 8/13/09

West Fork NF CG, Pagosa Springs, CO: Not as cold this morning. But I still started the furnace while taking my shower. Pretty cloudy today which kept the temperature down some. We relaxed most of the day. I got my keyboard out and played for a couple of hours. Then we went and got some water. This campground doesn’t even have spigots. They have a well with a pump. It takes 40 pumps to prime it and then about 70 pumps to fill up a 6 gallon tote. So, about 200 pumps altogether to fill two six-gallon totes. We take turns pumping and it’s a great upper body workout. Then we use the transfer pump to transfer from the totes to the holding tank. I rearranged some cupboards and then sat outside reading for a while. The hummers are all over and we put out some peanuts for the chipmunks. Later in the afternoon we drove into Pagosa Springs. I dropped off a prescription at City Market pharmacy and then we drove around on the outskirts for a while. We saw some amazing properties—huge mansion homes with large barns and elaborate, electronic gates. And beautiful views of the rugged and beautiful San Juan mountains in the distance. Came back and Mike took me out to dinner for my birthday. We went to the Ole’ Miners Steakhouse. The place was really cute with a lot of mining memorabilia. Started raining while we were having dinner. It was 83 when we went in and 65 when we came out. At our campground it was 57. It’s supposed to get down to 32 in Pagosa Springs on Saturday night, which means it’ll be colder up here. Will have to bring the poor plant in. It’s a Key West plant after all. Played Aggravation again. I won both games. Poor Mike.

Wed, 8/12/09

West Fork NF CG, Pagosa Springs, CO: Really chilly this morning. Didn’t want to get out of bed. Turned on the furnace before I took my shower. It warmed up nicely outside though because by the time I showered, got dressed, and went outside it felt pretty good. We had a fire for a while. Then it got really warm. A gal Mike met yesterday stopped by with her dog. She’s been traveling solo with her RV for 15 years now. We figured she must be 79. She’s out there doing it! After she left we walked down to the river. A very pretty river tumbling down through this little valley. Water is crystal clear and cold. There’s nothing like a Colorado mountain stream. Got back and it started clouding up over the mountains. Sprinkled for a while. We turned on our NOAA weather radio but got no reception—very unusual. But, we did get NPR on our super radio! So glad I bought it! We had baked pork chops, apple sauce and a vegetable for dinner. Played aggravation for a while. I won! Not sure how warm it got today. Probably in the mid- to upper-80s.

Our Site

Tue, 8/11/09

Slick Rock CG, Moab, UT, to West Fork NF CG, Pagosa Springs, CO: Left Moab this morning at 10:00. I decided to drive first. Headed south on Rt. 191 through Moab and figured we’d be driving through more flat terrain. But we drove through more sandstone monoliths, canyons, gorges, and washes. Passed another huge and really stunning arch right on the side of the road. Kept climbing until we were on top of a large plateau with higher bluffs, mesas and mountains around us. At Monticello we headed southwest on Rt. 491. The road was all torn up in Monticello—main road and side roads. It was a mess and we got mud all over the fifth wheel and the just-washed truck. Rt. 491 is a pretty decent road, albeit only two lanes, and we’re starting to see large farms—no more desert. We crossed over into Colorado a few miles from Monticello. We were going to stop, eat, and switch drivers in Cortez, but going through the little town of Dove Creek I noticed the little Blue Mountain Café. So we pulled in there and had breakfast. A cute little place with a large parking lot and good food. After eating Mike took over driving and we continued on through Cortez (a cute little town), Durango (getting way too big), and finally Pagosa Springs which is pretty much the same except for the western outskirts which has been built up quite a bit. We’re about 30 miles east of Pagosa Springs in the West Fork National Forest campground in the middle of the San Juan National Forest on the west fork of the San Juan River. A beautiful place. After getting set up we sat outside for a while enjoying the peace and quiet. The only sounds were the chattering of the birds and the susurration of the wind through the trees. Nice. It was in the low 80s when we pulled in here. Perfect!

Arches NP

Arches NP

Slick Rock CG, Moab, UT: Went back to the Jail House café for breakfast this morning. Then stopped and picked up a few groceries. Also picked up a couple of rubber door stops to wedge under the TV in the bedroom to keep it from tipping over while traveling. Took a little drive around a pretty little residential area. Nothing fancy but nice. Back to our site and I sat outside reading my latest book for a while. We have a couple of things to take care of before leaving tomorrow for West Fork NF campground near Pegosa Springs, CO. We’re there for 9 days I think. Think it hit 95 today. Pretty day.

Canyonlands

Little arch we hiked up to a couple of days ago

Sunday, 8/9/09:

Slick Rock CG, Moab, UT: This morning I woke up feeling lousy, but we donned our hiking boots and packs and drove over to the Negro Bill Canyon trailhead. The canyon was named after William Granstaff, an early settler who grazed his cattle in this canyon. I thought it would be a much easier hike but the trail went up a slick rock ledge a little way and through boulder fields and a lot of the trails were in deep sand which is hard hiking. But it followed this sparkling, pristine stream all the way. And the stream is a perennial stream—a rarity here in the desert. There were a couple of side canyons as well and one of them has a huge natural rock bridge. We didn’t make it that far. We also had to cross the stream three times, but there were plenty of rocks and it wasn’t deep, so no problem. I was glad I had my hiking boots on and brought my trekking poles as well. When we came back over that rock ledge, said I…”are you sure I hiked over this?” Mike said…”yes, you did.” Said I… “…and I didn’t whine or anything?” “Nope, he said, you did good.” I don’t remember it being that bad going, but coming back was another story. But the sky couldn’t have been any bluer and it was beautiful up there. Think it hit the low 90s today.

Green River--Canyonlands NP

Slick Rock CG, Moab, UT: Went to the Jail House Café this morning for breakfast and then did our laundry. Back to our site and sat outside relaxing and enjoying this beautiful day. Had a light dinner and then went to see “The Proposal” with Sandra Bullock and Betty White. A cute little romantic comedy. Think it only hit the upper 80s today. Nice! There was supposed to be snow last night at altitudes above 10,000 ft! Wow!