July 11--Creede

Yesterday we toured the Woodcarvers Festival in Creede.  It was held in the underground community center in Creede.  I never knew anyone could do such carving!  Enjoyed seeing how artistic these people are.  Last night Gary built a great fire down in the gully next to the motorhome.  It was about 45 and the fire felt wonderful.

Today we drove north of Creede on hwy 149 to Brown Lakes and then to Black Mountain lake.  On a lark, we drove the 4wd road to Carson pass.  Great road and scenery.

PICTURES:  1.fire on mountain; 2.Brown creek cascade (had a steep hike to get this picture); 3.running low on drinking water; 4.Black Mountain lake; 5.which way to go--the right was much steeper so guess way we went

July 9--Creede

Day 2 of dry camping and we are really having a good time.  We are all alone on the mountain with great views, solitude and wildflowers.  We decided on a drive up Seepage road off hwy 149 north.  Short but scenic road along a lake (no water).  We spotted a cave in the canyon wall and nothing must be done except drive off the road as far as possible and then climb.  It wasn't too bad except for the talus at the top.  I hate climbing on talus and stopped at the mouth of the cave.  Gary went right on in and saw lots of evidence of mountain sheep in the cave.

July 8--Creede

Moving day!  We have been in South Fork at Alpine Trails for 1 month and it is time to move on.  We have a week until we need to head to Texas to visit the new baby so we have decided to try our hand at dry camping in the motorhome.  We made a few "scouting" trips last week and selected a couple of good looking campsites in the Rio Grande National Forest.  This is "dispersed camping"--pick a spot and stop.

We are now camped off forest road 508 off Miner's Creek Road just north of Creede.  So far so good--furnace works and generator works--so we have electricity and heat, but limited water.  By the way, this post was composed and sent while sitting in the parking lot of the visitor center in Creede.

PICTURES:  1. running out of space; 2.Alpine Trails RV; 3.Creede mountain hideway (enlarge picture to see MH in center); 4.at home on the mountain with million dollar views; 5.relaxing.

July 5--South Fork

Embargo Creek was the area of today's adventure.  We took a different route than previous trips and drove to Milk Cow Pass and Groundhog Park road 650 (about 18 miles into the mountains north of Hwy 160).  After the first few miles of dusty gravel road, the trail narrows and became very scenic.  We saw no one else for hours.  On the return trip, we made a loop off the main road--649 and 648--great 4wd trails that passed an interesting large opening mine.

PICTURES:  1. Groundhog Park; 2.good place for camping hammocks on Groundhog Park; 3.Milk Cow Pass; 4.-6.mine

July 4--South Fork

Fourth activities were actually on the 3rd here in South Fork.  A parade and fireworks were the highlights.  On the 4th we drove north of Del Norte to the LaGarita Creek trail and the Biedell Creek road to the Crystal Mountain mine.

July 2--South Fork

Yippee, more adventure today! Rio Grande Forest Road 508-1A north of Creede.  We happened upon this trail (wasn't on our map) while out exploring, and it turned out to be a great, exciting trail with steep grades, tight slopes,views and an aspen forest.

PICTURES:  1. Gary at end of trail; 2. don't worry--just checking; 3.aspen forest; 4.and 5. view of Rio valley from end of trail

July 1--South Fork, Colorado

Some views of the upper Rio Grande river.  Headwaters are at Stony Pass in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado.

June 30--South Fork, Colorado

We had a great day to finish out the month of June!  We drove the Stony Pass trail; this is a pass in the San Juans north of Creede.  It is 12,580' on the continental divide and is the source of the Rio Grande river.  In the 1860's through 1870's it was the main road into Silverton and thousands of gold and silver mine camps.  It is now a rouh 4wd recreational road from hwy 149 between Creede and Lake City going over the pass to Silverton.  We drove to the pass only (40 miles from the pavement on hwy 149) and didn't go on into Silverton.  We also drove a side road about 4 miles from the Pass called Beartown road.  It follows Bear Creek to Kite Lake (end of road at 11,500').  We didn't find any signs of the mine town but the lake was simply beautiful.  The roads were very rough and slow.  12 hours on the road today! We were dusty and tired but saw many fantastic things.

PICTURES:  1.Gary on the trail; 2.scene from the trail; 3.Stony Pass;4. Kite Lake standing on  mine tailing; 5.  Kite Lake; 6. waterfall into Kite

June 28--South Fork, Colorado

Another great adventure day today.  We planned to make a loop through the Rio Grande Forest that we/'ve done before so we weren't too excited. It encompassed several gravel roads to Summitville, an abandoned mining camp, and Grayback Mountain.  A few miles down Park Creek Road we decided to explore a small side road.  It immediately crossed Park Creek and just got better from there.  This rough, rocky track climbed into the mountains through creeks and mud holes to 12000 feet.  It was made even more exciting because evidently the national forest service does not see the need to mark the roads.  They sell you a map of the forest with forest road numbers but there are no corresponding signs on the roads--fun.  Two hours and lots of bumping later we actually came out on the right road.

Another unexpected surprise was a road to the top of Grayback Mountain--definitely a 4wd road but great, great views at 12,000+ feet.

PICTURES:  1. Lunch in Rio Grande National Forest; 2.Summitville, old mining camp; 3.Summitville; 4. top of Grayback Mountain; 5. view from top of Grayback Mtn.

June 23--South Fork, Colorado

The days are slipping by here being lazy and enjoying the cool weather.  We have a favorite Mexican restaurant in Monte Vista with the best green chili sauce ever.  Walks by the Rio Grande river are a daily routine along with drives in the surrounding mountains.

Gary and Frank Dees (our Texas friend) decided to hike the Continental Divide Trail from Wolf Creek Pass on hwy 160 today.  Frank and Bobbie are square-dancing octogenarians.  The hike started off in good order until they lost the trail.  Gary and Scott have had this experience on the CDT at Bonita Pass, but this time the GPS saved the day even though they never found the trail.