Adventures in Creede (7-22-22)

 

We have been to Creede, CO only once before, and we didn’t have the Jeep with us, so some of the scenic drives were off limits so to speak, because we were in a dually.  We do love the town though so we wanted to spend more time here.

Back in its heyday, the late 1800s, the town grew in population from just 600, to over 10,000 in the span of just two years, with silver mining as the draw.  It’s said that the fires burned all night so that housing construction could take place 24 hours a day.  The town has a small museum, which we meandered through for a little bit. This piano was shipped here during that time- in a covered wagon.

Day 1 we went to visitor center to get information, and develop a plan. This area is full of scenic drives and 4 wheel drive Jeep Trails, and we needed to choose which ones we want to do.

 From the visitor center  we drove Lost Willow Creek Rd. with the intention of hiking To Phoenix Park waterfall. There was no true parking at the trailhead, so we had to make do.  Unfortunately we didn't get an early enough start, and we heard the rumble of thunder soon after starting up the trail. Even the brochures for the local areas mention the almost daily thunderstorms.

 

Plan B was to drive the part of Bachelor Loop that we didn’t get to last time we were here.

This dirt road passes by some interesting mining ruins, and also by this “empty” meadow.

 

It is hard to believe that in the late 1800s this, and other nearby meadows were home to more than 1200 people, and was called  “Bachelor City”. There were 12 saloons, 4 hotels, and 5 grocery stores.

There was a nice birds eye view of Creede as we made our way back into town.

Also on this day, Paul decided that the strange noise the Jeep is making is, indeed, the rear brakes. The nearest town with an auto parts store is Del Norte, about 45 minutes away, so off we went to buy all the parts he needed to replace them.

We started the following day taking care of chores.... I cleaned the camper and Paul changed the brakes on the Jeep.  Silly me, even though I walked outside to check his progress, I forgot to take a picture.  It was so nice, several men came over to see if he needed any help, or tools. 

That took care of the morning but we needed a plan for after lunch.

We elected to drive up the Silver Thread scenic byway. We stopped at some of the turnouts, including the one for the Slumgullion Earth flow. About 700 years ago this mesa slid into the valley below. It continues to slide about 20 feet a year.

As with much of Colorado, the scenery in this area is spectacular.

We stopped in the small, picturesque town of Lake City, where we walked the historic downtown and treated ourselves to an ice cream. The town is almost completely surrounded by steep mountains.

Continuing on our way, we drove the first few miles of the Alpine Loop backcountry scenic byway, to the oldest mine in Hinsdale County. We intend to drive the entire Alpine loop but it takes about 7 hours, so we will need an early start on another day.

On the way back home we made a brief stop to see yet another waterfall- this one is South Clear Creek Falls. It was a short walk to the falls but it had just rained, so the trail was a muddy mess.  So muddy that I should have brought my trekking pole.  At least when I fell, I landed on my knees, and not my butt!

If you want to see my husband's eyes light up, tell him there is a nearby Jeep trail that goes to a fascinating geologic area. He was pretty stoked about making the trek out to Wheeler Geologic Area,

There are two ways to get there, and they both start at Hanson's Mill campground. You can hike the 17 miles roundtrip, or you can drive the 14 mile "4x4, high clearance vehicle MANDATORY " road. They say its faster to hike, which is an indication of the condition of the road. Oh, and the road is impassable when wet, so you have to keep an eye on the sky. We, of course, took the road.

We gassed up the Jeep before heading out, and since it dawned on me that the only food we had with us was our sandwiches, I went into the convenience store and bought some emergency rations.

The first few miles of the road were pretty easy, and then it deteriorated. 

We drove through forests, fields, and streams.

There were several places we had to stop and reconnoiter, determine a path and speed to take, and one particular area that sort of made me wish we had turned around.

We could see the tracks of the people who had gone before us, so that helped-sometimes.

Most of the other vehicles we saw were side by sides or ATVs. There were no other Jeeps. We arrived two hours after we set out, so it was a bone jarring 7 mph trip.

Once there we chatted with the other travelers- I was happy to note that there were about 8 other vehicles. You can bet your sweet bippy I had no intention of being the last vehicle there.

The hike to the view was a half mile, straight up hill, at 11,000 ft. I was huffing pretty good. We were trying to make good time because the view at the top included dark clouds, along with some thunder.

The rock formations were really cool though- the rock is made of volcanic tuff, formed when the tuff was blown into the air through volcanic vents.  With more time we would have wandered more. But, we needed to beat the rain.

As we scrambled back down, we assured the others climbing the hill that the view was worth it. The drive back felt like it went much faster, probably because we knew what to expect, since we only actually shaved 15 minutes off the return trip.

In between all these bone jarring trips, we took some down time to enjoy our awesome campsite.  Our site was right on the banks of the Rio Grande river.

I spent a fair amount of time watching hummingbirds:

On what turned out to be our last day, we headed out on the “back road” to Silverton, where we were planning on having lunch and then driving home. The scenery was gorgeous along the way, but then the “road” turned into little more than a wide pathway.  After 1.5 hours we were not even halfway there, so we abandoned the idea and turned around.

Although we planned on being in this area of Colorado much longer, we got a call from Paul’s mom’s caregiver that his mom was not feeling well, so we drove down to El Paso.  Turns out she has Covid, but luckily has few serious symptoms.  We have been here for a week, and she is now just about well enough for us to leave again.

On to Colorado (07-07-22)

 After spending a few days with Paul’s mom, we left El Paso, and meandered our way toward Colorado. Our destination was Bayfield, home of our friends Tom and Dianne.  We weren’t actually going to see them for the first few days though- first we were meeting up with some of our Phoenix friends.

On the way there, we took one day to explore the Jemez Springs area of New Mexico, near the Santa Fe National Forest. We had found out about some hot springs in the area, so we thought that might be a good outing, but it turns out they are “luke warm springs” and the weather was cold and rainy. 

Instead we took the Jeep to investigate the Gilman tunnels. 

These tunnels were built in the early 1900s to provide access for logging and mining operations.  Building the tunnels was easier than going over the nearby mountain peaks. Our trip through the tunnels and along the forest roads was mildly entertaining.

Once we arrived in Bayfield we realized that Dave and Debby would be in the site next to us.  That made it easy to party with them!  Another couple, Roxanne and Rick, had rented a VRBO near Durango.

Our first day was great- we went for a short but interesting hike…

and then drove way up the hill to the Animas Lookout where, after a short walk, we had a picnic lunch with an amazing view.

Our plans for the next few days were thwarted by illnesses….first Debby didn’t feel well, and then I didn’t feel well.  She and Dave did get together with Rick and Roxanne, but Paul and I did not. Oh well, best laid plans, as they say.

Once they moved on, we headed to Tom and Dianne’s.  Our few days with them were spent visiting…

and of course, the guys are happiest when they are working on projects.

We had a little excitement when Dianne’s kids next door found 4 horses roaming in their yard.  Seeing horses in this area is not uncommon, but horses running around loose is.  They were put in Tom and Dianne’s pasture to keep them safe until the owners could be found.  Eventually, a neighbor came to get them and lead them home.

Our last day in Bayfield, Tom and Dianne had errands to do in nearby Durango, so we made plans to meet them there later in the day for an early dinner. In the meantime Paul and I wanted to explore the shopping there, since we had only seen the inside of breweries. 

Unfortunately I decided to wear my sandals and the skies started looking ominous just as we got there. We are storing some stuff in bins in the Jeep so I looked for other footwear- I found Paul’s water shoes, which worked in a pinch. 

Good thing, too- my sandals would have never survived.

Our next destination was the Pagosa Springs area of Colorado, but we had to make a short pit stop in Farmington NM before we headed there.  The truck has a slow coolant leak and Farmington has Paul’s favorite Ford Dealership.

On the way there we stopped at Salmon Ruins to check it out.

These particular ruins are named for the Salmon family- they bought the land the ruins are on in the early 1900s and protected the ruins from treasure hunters.

The ancient buildings were built in about 1100 AD by very skilled stone masons, using the same techniques that were used in nearby Chaco Canyon. The effort and attention to detail is amazing- and the fact that they are still standing almost 1000 years later, is a testament to their abilities.

We finally made it to Pagosa Springs, where our original plans were to boondock at a highish elevation but it was quite warm out so we decided to stay at an RV park instead. Once we were settled, we set out to do some hiking and exploring.  We headed up Wolf Creek Pass, a very steep, high pass through the Colorado mountains. The last time we drove this road, we were towing the 5th wheel and the “Check brake system” light came on, while we were going down the hill.

We stopped at all the overlooks that we couldn’t stop at while towing, and hiked the short hike to Treasure Falls, along with a ton of other people.

At the summit, we stopped to take some pictures before heading back the way we came.

The view of Pagosa Springs as you approach from Wolf Creek Pass is one of my favorite views ever.

We only booked a short, two day stay in Pagosa, but we did manage to hike to two other waterfalls.  Silver Falls was a pretty nice waterfall, and there were no crowds of people.

                                That’s not to say we were alone, however.

The Road to El Paso (06-22-22)

 

We know we are headed to El Paso to check on Paul’s mom, but we looked at a map to find a new way to get there.  We chose Rte 191- The Coronado Trail Scenic Highway.

On our way there, we saw signs for Canyon De Chelly National Monument.  That started a brief conversation about whether we had been there before. We quickly decided that we had.  But it started bugging me, so instead of relying on our memories, I did a search on my blog.  No Canyon De Chelly

 ( pronounced De SHAY).

Well, that meant we should stop and check it out. It turned out, that was easy, and fast. We stopped at the visitor center and she assured us we could drive the free, scenic drive and look at the sights, with our camper towing the Jeep.  So, off we went.

There were about 6 stops along the road. We stopped at the first one, and saw…..nothing. Hmm.. we moved on to the second one, and saw….nothing.  We weren’t sure what we were supposed to be seeing because there were no signs with information, nothing that told us what we should be looking for, or where, and the museum is closed.

I think the best way to see this area is by guided tour, which is the only way you can actually go down inside the canyon. After the third stop we turned around and left.  And now it’s crossed off our list.

Its hard to believe we are headed towards late June and have not yet left the state of Arizona. Everyone thinks of the desert when they think of our state, but we arrived in Springerville, elevation 7500 ft, and it was too chilly to sit outside. It has also rained on us 3 times in the last two days.

We parked ourselves for two days to explore what we consider to be the upper end of the Coronado Trail Scenic highway. Our plan is to spend 4 days exploring 100 miles of this road.

The first thing we did was drive to the small town of Show Low. We've been hearing about Show Low from friends for years but had never been there. Well, now we can say we have. It sits at a high elevation which makes it popular for desert dwellers, and has a couple of grocery stores. Pretty much just a town.

The town does have an interesting legend about it’s name.  Supposedly two men were partners in a ranch but soon discovered it wouldn’t support two families, so they agreed to a poker game- winner takes the ranch, the loser leaves.  The game was running so evenly finally one said to the other “If you can show low, you win”  (he was holding a 3) the partner showed him a deuce- and took the ranch.  In deference to the story, Main Street is actually named “Deuce of Clubs" Avenue.

Wanting to hike, the next day we drove up in elevation, to about 8600 feet, in the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest. The scenery up here is gorgeous, with pine forests, meadows and lakes.

The trail we chose to hike is the Thompson trail. It gets great reviews and we did enjoy the trail. It starts out following a creek. We had the choice of staying above it, or on a trail right next to it. We chose above it, and really enjoyed the views. It would have been 6.5 miles if we could have finished the trail, but we couldn't.

At lower elevations its the heat that gets us off the trail early in the day. Here, its the afternoon thunderstorms. Almost two miles into the hike we started hearing consistent rumbles, and the sky started looking more ominous. With no cell signal, we decided not to mess around, so we turned around and headed back.

 I did pause long enough along the way to get pictures of the wildlife.

The next day we moved on down the road to a new destination, stopping along the way whenever we saw something of interest.  We were now driving through Apache National Forest.  We decided to drop the camper in a parking lot and explore in the Jeep. We were also looking for a good place to spend the night, and it’s much easier to do without the camper.

The road itself had some harrowing (for me) areas with steep drop offs into deep canyons.  The speed limit is 25 mph in many places, for good reason. 

 Luckily the road is not very well traveled (Sometimes we asked...why is this road even here??).

We tried to hike again but the sky kept spitting out raindrops, so we were left to drive around looking at stuff.

We did find a really nice camp spot the first night and totally enjoyed the quiet.

Up and moving the next day, we started talking about wildlife we had seen. Our count?

4 wild turkeys

too many deer to count

1 bear- we saw him along the road while we were driving, so, no picture.

When we had cell signal, we looked up hikes that might be of interest, and decided on Rose Peak.  We knew there was a parking lot that would fit us, which made it easy.  We parked and headed up the hill. Turns out its really a “road” that leads to a fire lookout (you can see it in this picture). 

 

Once we got to the peak, we realized the fire lookout was inhabited- by a guy named Jim. He invited us up into the tower, and we had an awesome chat. He has been here for 4 months, with another two weeks to go until monsoon season is in full swing, and he will not be needed.

He stays in the cabin for 2 weeks at a time and then heads to town for supplies.   We had a bunch of questions for him- one was “when was the fire “ we could see evidence of a recent fire on the trail- the answer was it was last year, and he had less than 5 minutes to get out after calling it in.

I asked him how often he sees bears (since we had just seen one). He said its a funny story- apparently the Forest Service uses the parking lot we parked in to dump “problem bears”.  4 bears had been dumped in the last few weeks.  One day Jim was in the tower and saw a bear exploring around his cabin.  The bear even stood on hind legs and put his nose up against the window.  Obviously dumped because he was habituated to people.

Once we left Jim we discussed our plans for a spot that night. With the country in a heat wave, our options were to be hot at night or find a spot with electricity.  We decided to drive south to Roper Lake State Park, instead of boondocking in the forest again.

The southern terminus of the scenic drive dumped us in the town of Morenci. In the picture you can see the arrow that is our GPS position. The strange swirl of colors is actually a mining operation.

This is a huge mine-so huge, its hard to grasp the enormity of this operation. At 80 square miles, its the biggest producer of copper in North America, and one of the largest pit mines in the world. 

This is the size of the tires used on the trucks that haul the rock. The trucks are 25 feet wide, weigh 80,000 lbs. and require 150 gallons of coolant.

The fact that they look so small gives an indication of the size of the operation here.

Our last stop before El Paso was Chiricahua National Monument. We have been here many times, partly because we love the hikes here, but its also at a higher elevation, so its cooler than the surrounding area.  This is the first time we were in a rig small enough to fit in the campground in the park.

The trail we chose was an 8 mile loop with 1600 ft of elevation gain. It was, perhaps, a little more than we were comfortable handling, but we knew we wouldn’t be hiking for a while so we wanted to push it.

One section is a smaller loop that contains “named” rocks such as…

   Camel’s head

and Kissing Rocks

We survived the hike, but we sure were beat.