Junction Creek Campground

May 31-June 2, 2012

Thursday –

-We got up early and packed up the rig for travel.   Before leaving camp for good, we each took a ride on the bike.   Sad to be leaving beautiful Pagosa Springs.

-We pulled up to a gas station that had a free rv dump.   We dumped our tanks, filled up on freshwater, and topped off our propane.  

-Went to the tire place.   It was surprisingly busy for a Thursday morning.   They took care of us right away…but then they pretty much had to.   Our huge rig blocked a huge portion of their parking lot.  Turns out the slit on the tire was only through 1 layer.  We kept the tire.  It can be used in an emergency whereby we get 2 flats and aren’t someplace that stocks RV tires.  (I’m going on record as saying this had better goddamn be hypothetical!!!!!)

-On our way to Durango!  Smooth roads, easy drive.   We get to the new Forest Service campground at 12:30.   We got the last walk-in electric site (that would fit us)!   Phew.  Got parked relatively easily and unpacked enough to have lunch.   We ate outside and enjoyed the true forest quiet that we’d been missing these last few weeks being in the wind tunnel.   That quite lasted all of 2 hours, when 2 families with 8 kids between them showed up.   Let me put it this way: the kids were quite excited to be camping.   Bummer that the sites are so close together.  ($24/night, electric only, 50 amps).

Friday-

The plan for the day was to go to the public library and research our next couple of locations.   At first we couldn’t find any mentions of possible free sites near Durango.   So I started to look over in Utah near Moab (close to several national parks, including Arches).   There are tons of free sites in that area.   Just as I was starting to become overwhelmed with researching those spots, Missy finally hit on a forum that listed good boondocking nearby.   We read up on Mineral Creek, which is near the town of Silverton.   Lots of people described it as having breathtaking scenery.  SOLD!  We decided to drive and check it out on Saturday.

Missy stayed at the library to finish up some downloads.   I went to Walmart to do some shopping.   I first got my hair cut at the in-store salon.  I can’t handle the long(ish) hair anymore when we have to take military showers.    I got it cut short, and now it should be much more hassle free.

After the haircut, I took care of the shopping.  We just needed to stock up on some groceries before our planned 2 week boondocking.   I also got some mouse poison.   In the last couple of days, I’ve been hearing rodents scratching in the furnace area under the fridge.   Hopefully a little arsenic snack will take care of that little issue. 

Saturday-

Got on the road by 8:30 for our drive to check out the campsite we found online.  Karen showed it would be about 1.5 hours to get there.   The drive was gorgeous; we were treated to the new sight of red rock striations in the cliffs.   We were going to do a couple of scenic pull-offs, but there were intermittent storms so we didn’t do it.   The road was great: shouldn’t be an issue with the fitty.

We got to the road turnoff, which is right by the town of Silverton.   We just read about 1 possible free campsite, but it turns out that there were a ton.  Colorado really takes care of their camping-loving citizens.   Some sites were rough off the road.  Others were developed parking pads with vault toilets.   We found the perfect spot.  It’s a large parking area right next to the creek.  Off the back end, there’s a forest trail for hiking with the dogs.    And on the other end, great mountain views.   It looks like the perfect spot to spend the next 2 weeks of our lives.

After scouting the spot, we continued to drive down the forest road.  We saw lots of spots we can hike; Missy claimed she plans to climb up to a mile high waterfall.   When we got hungry, we pulled over to a nice picnic spot.  There was a firepit with some wood in it…so we went ahead and had ourselves a picnic fire.  (The temps are about 20 degrees cooler than in Durango, which makes sense since it’s about 2000 feet higher in elevation).  It was an enjoyable lunch hour, which we ended with a chipmunk hunt in the boulder meadow.   (The last was mostly an activity enjoyed by the dogs).

After leaving the campsite, we drove through Silverton.  No fast food places.  One gas station.   There is the tiniest, quaintest public library, but it didn’t have free wifi.   Oh Well.   The drive back to Durango was a thriller.  We were in a thunder & lightning show, and even went through some rain/snow showers.   But by the time we got back down to Durango, it was all sunny and hot again.  Almost 90 degrees.  Looking forward to the cooler temps at our next spot, even if it means having to use the furnace again at night.