The Rockies are busy in the summer

Wednesday (Aug 17)

Both cars are gone when I get going at 9 am. The place seems more pleasant this morning. I think Pagosa Springs frazzles me.

First big town is Bayfield. I check Yelp and decide to eat here rather than pressing on to hectic Durango. Real nice little place downtown – a Cuban sando and lots of coffee and wifi and I’m ready to take on the tourist crossroads at Durango!

Among the things I did with my wifi at brunch was to research a change of plans for the next two nights. I had planned to head north from Durango on the incredibly beautiful 551 to Montrose from which I would cut east and around to get to Aspen by Sunday afternoon. See further down for that.

But 551 has pretty limited federal campgrounds, and they are evidently very heavily used. I am not a fan of arriving to the drama of a fully occupied campground. I had the brainstorm that Mesa Verde National Park is pretty close to Durango, so instead of turning north I keep heading west on US 64 to Mancos and then to the park:

After much driving around I pick a site clip my “Occupied” card to the post and drive back up the hill to report. By now there’s a little line. I patiently wait and report my spot and … they don’t care! Turns out you don’t have to tell them, I didn’t need to drive back up the hill. This is the only large campground I’ve encountered where this is the procedure, but for the non-reservable sites, makes a lot of sense. State parks typically have the fault of being over-bureaucratic, the management company here has figured it out!

Anyway, no worries, I have business up here on top of the hill anyway. Take a shower! Finally unburden myself of the almost three weeks of beer bottles I have held on to because the midwest apparently believes glass recycling is a liberal plot. There’s only a little hole for the glass so you have to put them in one-by one … 27 beer bottles!  The space for a twelve-pack and three six-packs of empty bottles has now been freed up!  19 days / 27 bottles = 1.42 van beers per day.  I try to keep it to one an evening, but it was so fucking hot and miserable most nights of that period that after the smallest bit of exercise I treated myself to another.

Soak up some quality wifi, then back down the hill to my site.

Now that I understand the system I allow myself to have second thoughts about my site choice. And I change sites yet one more time. I back the van up the one way road in a lawless fashion to the site immediately above me – no shade, but much roomier and better view.

Because of the fullish moon I still have enough time to to take the epic hike I enjoyed so much last time – the Knife Edge Trail. It heads up out of the southwest corner of the campground and follows a ledge about 3/4 the way up the sheer face of Mesa Verde out to a great sunset spot. I did it pretty late, so that the last other people were leaving the sunset spot about when I arrived. I tried a different route walking home, which was adventurous, since it’s clouded up and thus pretty dark. I walked up a different road to the amphitheater – where there was a nature talk going on – the history of the sprawling but decrepit Morefield Campgroind we are in. Then on through the amphitheater to the exit on the far side, which delivered me to 40 feet away from my campsite, just as I’d hoped! I’ve had a successful adventure, now time to eat and maybe even party a bit!

Every now and then I will buy a slightly extravagant bottle of wine – for me that means > $10. I had one such in the pantry that I brought with me when I left. I would think about it as I drove across the sweltering middle, heating up to the 100’s in the day and down to the 70’s at night, and I resolved to finally open it as a celebration when I got to the mountains and cool evenings. Well, tonight is that night!

Instead of just gnawing on my usual tired sandwich I crack the wine and bust out my salami and bread and have a little party. The wine weathered its long hot summer pretty well! It still has a noticeable bouquet!  There is no wind and the temperature is perfect and it’s almost full moon, so I had a simply excellent moonlight dinner!

Thursday

Yep, still perfect. No wind, 71°, nice overcast to mute what would be a harsh sun. The overcast is kind of a joke on me. I went to a lot of trouble in my campsite selection and van orientation to find a spot with some trace of morning shade, and turns out it doesn’t matter!

Enjoy my excellent spot at the top of the hill for a while, then head back up to Headquarters for an exit shower to wash off last night’s five mile hike. Curses!! The showers are closed from noon to 2:30 every day. Actually that’s not quite accurate – they are unusable because they are entirely open, getting a much needed daily airing out.

Whatever, no morning shower for me today. Even so I end hanging out almost till 2pm doing my daily wifi exercises. Then a fun hour at the Visitors Center meant I was hitting the fancy downtown bistro in Cortez at about 3.  Because I had already done my wifi biz I was able to bring my old-school kit (book, puzzles) rather than my new-school kit (old phone, new phone, laptop). As a matter of style I much prefer the old-school kit, but as a matter of getting my daily shit done new-school is required all too frequently…

I passed through Cortez on a previous trip, doing the first part of today’s journey in reverse. Glad I read that account, it primed me for some of the scenic features. I am surprised about how much I remember about Dolores and Cortez when I drive through them.

Got here 5-ish, and many sites are taken. I lucked out on a real nice one that’s reserved for the weekend, but this is Thursday, so I’m good!  Colorado is a pain in the ass. Grumpy people with an aggressive big dog are at the end of the loop – dislike.

The place is really beautiful, with commanding views across the valley and down, but intermittent rain showers are putting a damper on the party.  Also for some reason I am beat. With the gloomy weather as an excuse, I pull down the bed at 6-ish and go to sleep instantly. That kills what’s left of this day. It’s darkish when I awake, so I just eat, fiddle on the laptop, then go to sleep again. It’s full moon night, but thick clouds hide that.

I never do get down to the little river that defines this valley. Basically just park eat sleep go. Not my best night, but they can’t all be epic I guess….

Friday

It’s cooooold this morning. I staying burrowed in my van with the truck noise across the big valley. When I emerge, surprise!  This turns out to be a super nice place with the sun shining and a good night’s sleep. The Park Host wife (Park Hostess doesn’t quite capture it) is laboring at the next campsite below me. Eventually she puttered past on her OHV. Turns out she was digging trenches to try to get the standing water to drain from that site for the nice handicapped couple who had reserved it for the weekend. She asked “did I see the moose?” The moose?? She showed me fresh moose tracks in the mud. Cool!  She was very nice, made me feel good about the world somehow. Her hard-working hubby, moving dirt on the road crew while she moves dirt at the campground, is a lucky man.

Time to go. Continue up the hill to Lizard Pass – excellent boondocking area at the top – could’ve saved myself $9.50 for how did not avail myself ofd the campground features at all. Next time…

On to Telluride. Just precious. I have some kind of deep resentment of ski towns. Telluride actually has some nice, cheerful people – why not, your life is perfect! – so I think it’s my issue not theirs. Anyway I lucked into the PERFECT spot for me today. Baked in Telluride (get it?). Wifi, pick your pastry off the huge rack, bottomless coffee, nice sandwiches, and I lucked into a primo corner with an electrical outlet, crucial because my laptop charger is still being fussy, and strong, wall-socket current seems to pep it up. Another report from in the bakery … there are some assholes in Telluride also.

After Telluride, there were leftovers of serious looking flooding along the San Miguel River heading north. Looked pretty recent, like a few days.

Ridgway – Orvis Hot Springs finally priced me out of the running. Heading north on US 550, Ridgway State Park always looks tempting, but it’s just so darned expensive. I’m cheap. I drive past again.

Through Montrose to Delta, DQ with no wifi. Few more miles to …

Sitting in the peaceful fairgrounds park (no dogs allowed!) enjoying the quiet. Kind of boggled by the extremes of Colorado weather. Got down to 31° last night at Cayton near Lizard Pass, was in the 50’s when I left at noon, now in the Delta valley it’s in the 80’s, going to 91° tomorrow. Breaking out my Oklahoma hot weather gear again.