Monday, August 31, 2015

Farewell Pagosa Springs

We made good use of our few remaining days in Pagosa Springs.  Jan and I took several walks along the San Juan riverwalk.  The whole thing is a nice just over 2 mile walk.  All paved and really pretty.
The view from our walk
We also, amidst the socializing, took a fantastic almost 5 mile hike along the Piedra River.  It was a wonderful mix of rushing water, cliff faces, narrow paths, huge meadows, few climbs and descents, and killer views.
The beautiful Piedra River

Looking back towards Pagosa Peak


Interesting terrain

Across a bridge

Through a meadow

Back along the river
Pagosa Springs grows on us more and more each visit, and Harvey has an incredible collection of wonderful people at his little slice of heaven campground, Cool Pines.  It is so nice to be welcomed and to enjoy everyone's company for the time we are there.  We had a delicious community breakfast Saturday morning, sausage and gravy and biscuits prepared with Buzz's expert hands, we enjoyed visiting later with Buzz and Gay and hearing about their harrowing experience slipping off a "road" high, high up in the mountains near Engineer Pass, thank goodness they are all right!  We had many evening gatherings to solve all the problems in the world and to hear Ron and Jo's excellent stories.
Ron holding court
We enjoyed several meals together with Harvey, Jan, Ron and Jo, and Jan and I.  We met some wonderful new folks, Lynn and Diane and Linda and hope to see them back there next year.  It was nice to see Jack and Barb, Vince and Susie, and Bob and Georgia again.
Jo explaining the facts to (R-L), Harvey, Jan, and Ron

Having one more big laugh with Harvey, Jan, Ron, and Jo
It is very hard to leave Cool Pines.  Thanks again so much Harvey, for your hospitality and welcome!!

Now we are in Durango for perhaps the longest time we have ever spent while traveling in the summer, 5 weeks.  We love Durango and thought it would be interesting to spend enough time here that we could really experience what it might be like to live in this area.  We'll see.
Our view in Durango

2 comments:

Sandy Smith said...

Is the Animas River still tinted orange? Thanks Obama!

Bill said...

No, it looks perfectly normal and is open for recreation again. We spoke to a few people that say up in Silverton, we haven't been up there yet, high on the banks you can still see some orange. I'm so glad the media isn't biased, I'm sure it would be this quiet if a republican EPA had done this deed!