Go West Old Man – Onward to Durango, CO – 2012

I didn’t mean to make two posts on Thursday, so I skipped Friday.

We left the Pueblo area campground Friday morning and headed for Durango following route US-160.  This is the view as we left the campground.

We could see these two mountains (East and West Spanish Peaks) from the campground but got better shots along US-160 along with the snow covered 13,500’ – 14000+ peaks Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Culebra Range, further south.

The landscape was really interesting as it changed from desert like near the campground to high dessert with a little more green after we crossed the first 9000’ pass and dropped down into the 7500’ San Luis valley.  The irrigated fields were green and productive and the non-irrigated areas looked like high dessert.  Crossing the valley, we passed the 14,357’ Blanca Peak, also part of the Sangre de Cristos, and the 171,000 acre Trinchera Ranch which was sold in 2007 by Steve Forbes to a billionaire hedge fund manager for $175 million.   The valley floor stayed that way until we got over to South Fork and started up into the San Juan mountains. 

Bev headed back from the Subway in Del norte.

Judging from the homes and shops, South Fork was obviously an affluent area, likely due to the Wolf Creek Ski Resort and the river.  It was a beautiful drive up the mountain, first along the south fork of the Rio Grande River, then up the mountain past Wolf Creek Ski Area to 10850’ Wolf Creek Pass, which I’ve wanted to visit since the 1975 C.W. McCall song of the same name.  It's sad to see the dying trees due to the pins beetle.

Once we crossed the continental divide, the valley was much greener with lakes and rivers that had much more water in them.

 After our scenic drive, we arrived at the KOA about 8 miles east of Durango (Elev – 6512’, 2010 population – 16,887), got set, up and relaxed – driving a motor home pulling a dolly with a car over the mountains requires a little of that – same for the tensed up navigator.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

9/14/12 event date