Making Decisions

May29-30, 2012

On Tuesday, we went into town to take care of a bunch of things.   We got a propane tank filled.   Then we went to a tire place to see if they could replace the fitty tire.   They said they’d have to order the tire, so we could come back on Thursday or Friday to have it installed.   We thought this would be perfect timing, because we estimated we’d need to come to town right around then to dump our tanks and take on freshwater.  

After the tire place, we headed up north to check out the next set of possible campsites.   A few miles up the road, we encountered a parking lot that had a giant bulletin board which was labeled “Fire Info”.  Uh-oh.   All the roads to the campgrounds were closed.  We knew the fire was in the area, but from the maps it seemed to be quite a bit away from the sites we were considering.   Perhaps they were just being cautious.   Better to keep campers out unnecessarily then to have to roust them later due to encroaching fire.  We were both bummed that our plans were thwarted.   I felt a little more vulnerable, thinking about how high the fire danger is around here.   Missy claims she’s not scared at all.

We walked the dogs for a bit on a random trail, and then went back to town.  Now we were going to have to make decisions about what to do after getting the new tire.   We finally decided that maybe we’d just go right back to the site we’ve been at for the last 2 weeks.

We went to the city park to get some more water.    We set up under some great shade trees and watched all the people and the river.  Did a little bit of internets.   Tried and failed to connect with Jeremiah.  Apparently he has a boondoggle story from creeking, but we’ll have to wait to get the whole story.

I convinced Missy to check out a used sporting goods store with me.  I wanted to see what they might have for bikes.   Missy was reluctant, she thought any bikes there would be too expensive.   But I prevailed.   And I’m glad I did…we found a bike!   It’s a yellow mountain bike, and it’s probably a little too short for us but it’s a good deal for just trying it out to see if we’ll like biking.   Brakes and tires and shifting all work.   Only $120.     Now we have a non-rain-dependent activity!

On Wednesday, we spent a lot of time mulling options for where to travel next.   We realized when we got back to camp that due to a jerk parking his rig close to us, we could no longer pull through into the spot again.   Backing in might be possible, but we decided to look for other options.   We looked at a couple of other sites further down the forest road.   Missy was in love with one that would have been all but impossible to park in.   I told her we can try it again next year, after we’ve had more practice.    Next, we considered going east to the Sand Dunes National Park.   However, it’s almost a 3 hour trip, and it’s east whereas the other areas of CO we’re interested in are West or North.    So we nixed that.

Missy took the scootie up the road until she got reception, and she checked out campground options in Durango.   We decided to head there tomorrow, after getting the new tire.   Most of the sites in the campground are reserved.  But there are a few first come/first served.   Hopefully by getting there on a Thursday, we’ll get one of those sites.   If not, then we’ll be screwed.

Oh- we both took the bike out for a spin.  It’s interesting how much more you can see when you’re not confined in a car.   I thought the bike handled great…even when I chickened out on a downhill sandy part and applied the brakes, it didn’t skid or slide!  So far, we’re both optimistic that we’ll enjoy bike riding.

That’s all for Pagosa Springs.   I’m going to miss this awesome campsite.  Wish us luck in finding even more awesome sites in the future.

Memorial Day Weekend

May 27-28, 2012

Sunday was cold and windy.   We woke up and it was 36 degrees inside the rig.   The furnace died again from (presumably) a low battery.   But, we weren’t all that cold overnight.   It was tough to hang out outside with the cold and the wind.   We didn’t want to start a fire because it seemed dangerous in these conditions.  

Our little area of the world was busy this weekend.   Lots and lots of people camping and partying and ATVing.   It wasn’t a big deal, though, because we hunkered inside for the most part anyway.   I was disturbed by the loud music and party that went until after 2 am.   However, all the extra kids and vehicles packed up and cleared out by 9:30, so we got our private clearing again.

Monday was GLORIOUS!    Halleluiah!  What a difference not having wind makes on one’s psyche.  We decided to do another hike up the cliffs.   (BTW, I took the GPS with me on the last hike up and we determined from the elevations that it’s about 220 ft up).  Missy went first so I could try to take pictures of her from down below.  Then I hiked up and joined her.   It’s really fun rock climbing and it’s neat to spend time up high and enjoy the view.   Missy went back down after 20 minutes.   I stayed up and relaxed and zoned out and read a little.    I didn’t want to come back down ever.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the warm, sunny, non-windy day.   I got to spy a little bit of nature.   On one of the first days here, I made a comment to Missy about how I was constantly scanning the cliff ridgeline in the hopes that some wildlife would appear.  Like a bear or mountain lion.   Yesterday at dusk I finally spotted some movement.  2 deer approached the very edge of the cliff!   It was only deer, but it was very exciting!    I’m not sure why there were there, since it’s barren rocks at that point.  My best guess was that they were trying to figure out a way down to the river?   It was pretty cool to see them up there on the edge (in a spot we’d been).

Forest Fire

May 24-26, 2012

I have been neglecting my blogging duties for a few days.    This wasn’t a wise choice for a woman of my advanced years, because now I’m stuck trying to remember what we did a few days ago.    Here’s my best attempt at recounting:

*I put on my brightest yellow shirt and climbed to the top of the cliffs.   The idea was that Missy would stay below and take my picture from the ground.   I thought the yellow would be very visible, but when I got back down, Missy chastised me.  She claims the yellow was lost in the green of the trees, and she claims I didn’t get to the absolute edge for a neat photo.  Whatever.  It’s scary up there on the edge in the wind.   I told her she’s welcome to go up and show me how it’s done.   She has not done that yet.

*On Friday I drove up to the top of the road to get a signal to check if the Durango Library was open on Saturday.  (It was).   While there, I learned that there have been epic rains back in MN.   A miracle Memorial Weekend creeking opportunity.   I was really bummed that we were missing out on hanging out with and paddling with our peeps back in MN.   I am honestly jealous of the whitewater.   Here, the San Juan has dropped back into the “low” category.  So we haven’t been able to even try out the run in our backyard.   I tried getting ahold of Jeremiah to see how the paddling was going, but we weren’t able to connect.

*The winds have been active every day.   Most days they are constant at 20 mph, and on Saturday we had continuing gusts of 50-60mph.  It made it kinda miserable outside.  I think I would go crazy if I lived somewhere where there was constant wind.    On one of our walks with the dogs, we saw a huge pine tree blow over.   It went quickly and with little pre-cracking warning.   It was a neat thing to witness.

*We drove to Durango on Saturday.  We wanted to try the wifi at the newly completed library.   It was 55 miles away, and about a 1.5 hour drive.   Missy got pulled over for speeding in Pagosa Springs.   She actually sped past the cop, who I guess than had no choice but to stop her.   Luckily she was let off with a warning.   She commented that it was our usual Memorial Weekend ticket (Jeremiah historically gets those for non-seatbelt-use, but since he’s not with us, Missy filled in).  :-)

*The sky and air were very heavy with debris on Saturday.  My first thought was that it must be a fire.  When we got into phone range, we did discover that there’s a wildfire in our Forest.   It apparently started 10 days ago and was 70 acres, but then with the strong winds and no rain, it was now over 400 acres.   We spent some anxious moments working out where on the  map it was in relation to our camp.   Luckily, it’s not that close.    The shift in wind this morning was the first time smoke from the fire headed our way.   It was very eerie and interesting how far ranging the smoke coverage went.  We were in it all the way to Durango…felt like we were in LA smog.

*Awesome internet and awesome library in Durango.  It overlooked the Animas river, and we sat in comfy chairs in front of picture windows enjoying the view.    While getting our downloads, we looked into placed to go next.   Unfortunately the fire is in the area of where we were thinking of going next.  So we’re looking at several options, from Durango, to Sand Dunes National Park, to the Arches in Utah.   The good thing about this lifestyle is that we’re so free to choose where to go.  So stay tuned.

*After the library, we got some errands done.  We went to an RV place to pick up a anode rod for the water heater.  For a couple of weeks now, the kitchen sink hasn’t been working properly.   I did some google research and I’m confident that we’ll need to replace the anode rod and flush the water heater to get it fixed.   But, since we don’t have water hookup here, I’m not going to waste water draining the heater.   So now we’ll have the part ready.   I’ll do the fix once we run out of freshwater.   After the RV place, we went to Walmart and then headed back.

*We were shocked when we got to camp to see that we’d been invaded while we were gone.   A big group of people snuck into the few other sites in the loop.   Lots of dogs (including an adorable puppy).   If Missy hikes the cliff, we’ll try to get a picture of our newly crowded neighborhood.    There’s been a ton of ATVs going up and down the road.   We sorta thought this would happen on the holiday weekend.   It’s noisy, but hopefully we’ll only have to deal with it a couple of days.

*Cassie update: she’s doing better.   She’s no longer waking up stiff and sore.   I think she must have banged her back and got hurt.   Then, after a full night curled up sleeping, she just woke up stiff and sore.  Getting old in addition to being hurt.    I’m soooooooooo glad that she’s doing better. 

More Pictures from our daring ascent!

Video from Cliff hike

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoTvo3r0rKw

Enjoying San Juan National Forest

May 22-23, 2012

Tuesday -  This morning the river was running cloudy.   We were initially excited, because usually when a river turns cloudy it means it is rising, either from rain or snowmelt.   So while there was definitely no rain, we assumed some leftover snow was melting and raising the river.    However, after checking our reference rocks, it was clear the river didn’t rise.   Hmmm.  We were perplexed about what caused the cloudiness.   There’s a ranch a few miles upstream, so our guesses are that either the rancher put something into the river, or perhaps there was a landslide.   Either way, it makes it horrible fishing conditions so perhaps the fishermen will stay away and we can maintain some privacy.  :-)

Today we groomed the dogs.   Even though they weren’t stinky yet, we gave them each a bath.   I furminated Cassie, and Missy gave Buddy his summer cut.   They are both now quite adorable.

Wednesday -  This morning we climbed up the cliffs that face our campgrounds.   It was an incredible experience, very awe-inspiring!    We started at 8 when it was still cool, so we wouldn’t be overheated in our long sleeves and jeans.   We both also wore work gloves.   It was fun scrambling up the mountainside, planning the best possible route to the top.   I never understood the lure of mountain climbing before, but now I think I get it.   It was a lot of fun moving in a mostly vertical manner.    Missy and I picked different routes up the mountain, ending up on different peaks.  I had the water backpack, and soon Missy was begging me to come over to her side so she could share the water.   I found a game trail connecting the 2 peaks and headed over.  On the way, I scared a hawk out of its tree.  It was only like 20 feet away!   As it so happens, it flew right by Missy, so she got to see it too.    

After refreshing herself, we both made our way back to my peak.   We took some pictures and enjoyed the view.  I made a video so that hopeful people could get a sense of how high up we were.  I tossed a rock over the edge, and it seemed to take forever for it to fall to the ground.   (I should have taken a video of the rock falling).   After spending some time up top, we made our way down on the far side.   It was fun to slide down the steep hillside.    I really just enjoyed this hike so much.   It’s amazing that this activity is available to me right outside my door.

After our hike, we got our laundry gathered and sorted.   It’s been perhaps a month since we last did laundry, and there’s a lot of it.    We went to town after lunch and went to the Laundromat.    We pretty much had the place to ourselves.    We brought the computers, so we used 3G to get some internetting done.    I was on Facebook and saw that Mom was online (Hi mom!), so I tried seeing if she was there for a chat.  She was!   It was great to get the chance to chat with her for a while.

After doing laundry, we stopped at the park pavilion to get some water.   We discovered on our kayaking day that the city has super tasty water, so we took advantage of being in town to get our water jugs filled.   Then we headed back to camp, where we endured 700 mph winds for the rest of the day.    The gusts rocked the fitty like crazy, and we were concerned about a bendy tree being blown onto the rig.   The crazy winds kept up until almost midnight.

We Kayaked!

May 20-21, 2012

Can you spot the climbers and the dog?

Missy on the San Juan River

Tina on the San Juan River

Sunday was the final recovery day for Missy.   She said she’d be ready for kayaking the next day.    We spent a couple of hours being entertained by a group attempting to scale the cliffs right by us.    I guess their goal was to get to a small cave.   The uphill climb there is severely hampered by the loose rocks and steep incline.    2 women persevered, and along with them they had a small boy(!).    We were scandalized.    One small misstep and you would not be able to control your tumble down the hill.   (Oh, and they had an AWESOME dog with them.  This dog was not scared at all, and he nimbly traveled up and down the hill at will).    After 1.5 hours in the merciless sun, they made their goal.   Then they had to try to scoot down the hill.   One woman just went down on her butt.   However the other woman was hampered by the child, whom she was wearing like a backpack on her back.    I was sure there would be a mishap, but she had a neat trick to getting down.  She faced the hill, grabbed a big rock between both hands, and skidded down using the rock to break her momentum.    Very impressive technique!    So they all made it safely down.   I have some pictures of them (with the neato dog), but it’s sort of a Where’s Waldo exercise to find the hikers.

Sunday night we were treated to getting a new neighbor.   I don’t know why it is, but it’s strangely entertaining to watch other people when camping.    So a big fitty made its way to the other side of our clearing.    The fitty is actually in the same model line as ours…only it’s a triple axel and maybe a little bigger.   There was a couple, and they had 2 small dogs with them.    It took these people about 4 times as long as us to get unhitched and level.    I couldn’t believe how laborious they made the process.   The wife was no help at all.   The poor husband had to keep getting out of the truck to check his backup job.   After they got parked, they left in their 2^nd vehicle.   And they didn’t return.  Very odd.   I surmised that they were just trying to hold a spot, but thought it was strange to do this on a Sunday night.   It wasn’t until  later that we realized that this weekend is Memorial Weekend, so perhaps that’s why they would hold their spot so early.    I hope that it doesn’t get too loud and busy this weekend…

Monday-  WE FINALLY WENT KAYAKING!!!!

It wasn’t too eventful, as it turns out.    We left camp at 9:30.    We got to town and decided to wait by the public restrooms.   We dropped our kayaks and gear, and Missy checked directions to the takeout one last time from the internet.   Then she took off in the truck to set shuttle.   I had the small computer and my phone to tether, so I was able to do some blogging and facebooking.    Missy left for the takeout at 10, and got back at 11:20.   She said the scooter ride back was only about 30 minutes.   (the extra time was because she made a wrong turn).

We had lunch before we left.   Got suited up and on the river shortly after noon.    It was still running low, but at this point beggars can’t be choosers.     The run is about 13 miles.   It’s mostly class 2 with a few 2+/3- ledges that sneak up on you, but are easily handled.   The scenery was unbelievable!   Snow-capped mountains in view behind us almost the whole way, and pine tree covered hills and cliffs all around.   We’ve kayaked in some gorgeous settings before, but what made this special was that since it wasn’t a hard core run, we had ample opportunity to sit and soak it in.    The run took us about 3 hours, so that should tell you how nice and fast the river was running.   For the last 4 miles or so,  we loosened our backbands and laid back on our back decks.   It was fun!    That position makes all the little waves and bumps more exaggerated.    Plus, it helps alleviate dead legs.

Now that we have one run under our belts, we’ll be considering the creek run right by our camp.   The river is still running low, so we’ll decide whether or not to try right away, or if maybe we’ll wait and see if rain is in the forecast to bump the river up.