In my last camping post, I signed off with the intention of being Alaska bound this summer. That dream did not become reality this year. It is interesting to observe the twists and turns, the changes that life has laid before us as an alternative.
We knew it would be a monumental undertaking to be able to leave our normal routines and lives for a couple of months, and our desire to make that journey still burns. What really slowed us down was the repair work our Volkswagen needed. Hubby got the new engine going last October for his birthday trip to the Gila. When we got home, he decided to tear into the body work. After four months of winter shop hours, it was Spring and time to get out and enjoy the outdoors; yet the bus was only half finished by then. That’s when we realized we should shift our priorities and find another ‘vehicle’ to enjoy the gorgeous Summer the San Juans had in store.
July 2019 Latir Lakes, Costilla ParkJuly 2019 Latir Creek, Costilla Park
Hubby started researching options and as soon as he settled on a Casita, the best one showed up on craigslist for the right price and only an hour away in Durango. The original owners had bought it in 2012, and at ninety-one he was ready to let it go. We’ve gotten 5 trips in so far this year, with the longest being two weeks for my birthday. There are at least four more tentatively planned for this season.
June 2019 Palisade, Middle ForkJuly 2019 N. Beach CG on the Taylor RiverJuly 2019 N. Beach CG on the Taylor RiverColumbines outside Crested Butte
Recently, we were asked if we were going to give up our VW camping? No way. There are so many places the truck and trailer can’t go, more primitive camping options and it gets much better gas mileage. In our minds, the Casita has already paid for itself. Not only as a camper that we’ve enjoyed this Summer, but also as another small house when our septic was having problems in the main house or it was too hot to sleep in the loft. It’s always good to have options.
We intend to return to Silver City and hopefully visit our friends again in Bisbee this Fall. It will be with the Casita, while the bus waits patiently for the wheel of the year to turn inward again.
I’ll admit, I’ve been dragging my heels to make a post after my last one about fire season, lest I jinx us. We held our breath for an awful long time. Since I started writing this, the Camp Fire and other wildfires in California showed us that those fears can be well founded. Neighborhoods are not immune, and I know ours has a big forest, wild-land interface.
Seemed like we couldn’t go to town this Fall without coming home to a fire in the neighborhood (there were at least 3). From what we heard listening to the online radio traffic, seeing their response time, professionalism and talent, those fire crews and our local PFPD are amazing.
When the remnants of hurricane Rosa drifted our way in early October, we finally got a little relief, but the drought map still looked bad. I started to see the sprouts of weeds rejuvenate along the driveway, and the grasses I thought were goners began to emerge, just in time for frost. The Fall seemed somewhat mild and quick for the colors to peak. We stayed extremely busy with chores and projects in the transition between seasons this year.
Celebrating in the Gila
A lot of the work (not done by me) was to get the new engine in the bus, and get a few miles on it before we high-tailed it down to the Gila to celebrate hubby’s 40th. It was the slow-down, camping time we needed and exactly how he wanted to celebrate. We started the trip this time by meeting up with some friends at Snow Lake, where the best gift ever was the final custom fitting for some new bus awning accessories; and ended with working from the road for just one more week at our favorite cabins in Pinos Altos.
I don’t know why I haven’t written about the Gila yet? Maybe because I get bogged down in culling pictures from our trips, and then get distracted from writing the post to support them?
We were first introduced to the northern and easterly most parts of this National Forest during a series of winter-time, VW shenanigans in 2012 & 2013. Since then we’ve been drifting further and further south every year and have fallen in love with Silver City and the surrounding areas.
2013 Snow Lake
2015 Gila Cliff Dwellings
2018 Faywood Hot Springs
Since our first trip on our own in 2015, we’ve come back every year to camp, try new hot springs, and explore the forest and attractions like the WNMU museum’s collection of Mimbres pottery and the Gila Cliff Dwellings. There’s a lot of history, character and creativity here.
The bus and its new engine did great. There were a few hiccups but nothing that stopped us for very long or can’t be tuned/corrected. We barely made it home before snow covered the driveway. Now the bus is back in the garage and all of the camping interior and gear is removed and stowed. Hubby’s got her mostly torn down to the bare bones as he replaces some much needed rusted out body parts in preparation for next summer’s adventures.
Today, the 416 fire north of Durango has doubled in size to 16,000 acres.
It’s that time of year again. Fire season has come early to Pagosa country this year. I started to write this as Archuleta County enacted Stage 1 Fire Restrictions and campgrounds opened at the beginning of May—the earliest we can remember for restrictions. Usually primitive campers, we camped for the first time in a local paid campground so meals could be cooked over a small campfire or in the dutch oven.
We often snowshoe through William’s Creek campground in the winter when no one is there or have parked and sled the dogs on the road, back in the good old days. Seeing it without the snow, I was impressed by the size of the campground and the number of sites with primo creek access. This early in the season, we had our pick.
Williams Creek Campground snowshoeing January 25, 2015 and camping May 5, 2018
Stage 2 restrictions were in place by the end of Memorial day weekend. Along the lines of more earliest-year-ever, we headed to our favorite spot up Mosca for the long weekend. This road isn’t often open/passable this time of year. We had to dig out the propane Coleman stove and change our meal plan as there were no fires allowed in primitive camping under Stage 1. Even at the end of the road, a PFPD patrol passed us, a welcome site.
Preferring to cook over our Trangia, which is not permitted now under the Stage 2 restrictions, we’re looking at adding a new stove option, as we love the convenience of cooking over denatured. The difference in a new stove, would be one with a valve that would meet with the more strict restrictions. Something we may have to consider as we think about a long-haul summer trip to Alaska. What if you’re passing thru an area with Stage 2 restrictions, and ya gotta cook ramen for the night? Doubt it’s a necessity. I’d eat a sandwich; but what if you’re in it for the long haul?
For now, we just aren’t camping. We stay home and daydream about camping by writing this blog…I digress.
Now they’re talking Stage 3, closure. This is unprecedented for the Pagosa Ranger District.
Durango 416 Fire approx. 4–5 hours after ignition. June 1, 2018 driving east on 160 leaving Durango (left), from our front porch (right).
We’re no strangers to fire in the landscape. Our first full summer here was 2002, when the Missionary Ridge fire rained needle ash on us, and the Million Reservoir fire forever changed the landscape. We wondered what we had traded the tornadoes of Arkansas for.
In 2012, the Little Sand Fire left an amazing scar that we wonder at every time we drive up Mosca. The West Fork Complex dominated the skyline in 2013 and terrified me the most.
Westfork Complex pictured from June 19–Jul 3, 2013
Literally watching from our front door in 2015, we observed aircraft dropping retardant and smoke jumpers being dropped on what I think was dubbed the Little Devil Fire.
Little Devil August 2015
We were detoured on our trip of the National Parks when a fire closed the highway in Yellowstone in 2016 and were on our way to Durango the morning #416 began nine days ago.
Driving through the Berry Fire burn scar about 2 weeks after it closed the highway between Teton and Yellowstone.
West Fork Complex burn scar above Big Meadows Reservoir July 2015
It’s heartbreaking to see your favorite places first die off in painful ways, slowly or suddenly as beetles and drought do their work. It is scary when those place dissolve to ash. Yet we’ve seen them afterwards, skeletal remains standing where they flourish on the edges as things start over again. Usually these are the best places for wildflowers and berries, which means wildlife.
I’m not a millennial. I really don’t do much social media or take many selfies. I’ve grown up with the evolution of technology and use it daily for work, but I draw boundaries and seek balance. My escape and renewal comes from going out. Getting out and unplugging for a while. It fascinates and disheartens me that there’s a generation growing up without exposure to the outdoors.
While I appreciate our National Parks as ‘easy access’ for everyone to experience the outdoors, they remind me why I love to explore all of our other Public Land options: State Parks, National Forest, BLM, etc.—the usually less crowded options—the slightly wilder options. Our National Parks hold and protect some truly amazing landscapes, features and ecosystems. But look around you. There are some truly amazing places not too far from you. What’s there today could be gone tomorrow. Whether it’s from our impact, development, forest fires and natural disasters, or just the march of time; everything changes. Get out and go visit them before they change.
Now that it’s been a year since we visited, I’m finally getting around to writing about our Chaco vacation that I mentioned in my last post about my Chimney Rock Workshop. I thought about making this post a series like I did for our Utah trip, but I didn’t have nearly as many photos to share.
Google maps shows Chaco Culture National Historical Park about 3 hours from us. Between the speed of the bus and some of the back roads we took, I think it took us more like 4-5 hrs. We’d reserved our campsite online, so all we had to do was check-in, set-up to watch the sunset, and make dinner. The first big cold snap of the season was moving through, and it felt like we practically had the Park to ourselves.
Camping at Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Saturday, we set out with the intention to hike the Pueblo Alto Trail which overlooks much of the Park. What we didn’t count on was that the ‘entrance’ to the trail was a pretty steep, almost bouldering, stairway to the top that our dog, Pakak did not want to climb once she’d gotten a few feet up it. We climbed back down and altered our destination to one of the furthest outliers within the Park, the Peñasco Blanco Trail. We were rewarded with solitude, and able to wander and wonder through the Petroglyph Trail. Turning around at the Supernova Pictograph site, made for an almost 6 mile hike. After a rest, we walked around Pueblo del Arroyo and called it a day. Back at the campsite, we set to baking garlic knots and cinnamon rolls for dinner, and spent some quality time B.S.ing with the friendly, Park Ranger.
Hiking out to the Supernova Pictograph
Sunday we awoke to 19 degrees and the bus blasted with snow. The winds were something we knew would be a factor, but they sure did blow through our bones during most of the day. Later in the day, once the bus thawed out, we took her for a drive to warm up. Some rodent, maybe a kangaroo rat, had crept into the bus and stowed a bunch of the dog food into the heater pipe. It sounded like one of those childhood push-popper toys that kinda looks like a vacuum. It spit out dog food into the floorboard for miles, and the heater still smells like it. We braved the wind to visit Chetro Ketl and the most important and studied site in the canyon, Pueblo Bonito. I was in awe just by it’s size. The dusting of snow was a real treat, too, as it added a new dimension to the landscape’s shadows and highlights.
Monday, we packed up and headed towards Abiquiu. Needing a break from the cold, we planned to hole up and thaw out at the Abiquiu Inn. This pet-friendly Inn is our favorite stop whenever we find ourselves in this neighborhood. Their restaurant is quite tasty, too. Along the way, we found a road with great views to stretch our legs and romp around in the snow for a little while.
Rested, warm and bathed, we spent the next two nights on the Chama river. I’ve written about this spot before. It seems to stay pretty warm, and we basked like lizards in the sun for a few days.
Camping on the Chama River
Thursday we drove towards Taos, camping near Pilar in the Orilla Verde Area of the Rio Grande Gorge, which is a newly designated National Monument. Again, we were welcomed with solitude. After picking a site, we ran into town for dinner. The next day was spent rambling around Taos and finally meeting up with some friends who live there to crash on their couch. Saturday was the haul home with another great adventure (and our coldest camping yet) concluded.
