With Friends in a Meadow

I've been putting off an update to The Wanderings due to poor computer performance. But I finally bit the bullet and re-imaged my laptop so I'm back to a clean, reasonably usable device. So here's the latest on the happenings with the Wandering Leos.

We're now in Woodland Park, Colorado, which is a few miles northwest of Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak. We spent time here two years ago, so I am familiar with the area. There are a number of tourist attraction (Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, Cripple Creek, etc), music concerts, good restaurants and gold metal trout fishing. So it makes a great location for Maggie and Jonas to come to spend some time with me, which they will be doing next week (YEAH!!!).

Our trip from the Vallecito Lake area to Woodland Park took us through the Conejos River Valley, where we spent last summer.

Conejos River Valley in southern Colorado

Some of our friends from our winter camp on the Guadalupe were spending time here this summer, so we decided to catch up with them at the Elk Creek Campground. We found our friends were staying in a meadow at a trail-head above the campground, so we found a flat spot and settled in for a week.

Our boondocking site in the Conejos River Valley

This was our first experience boondocking in a national forest. Instead of staying in a designated campground, we were doing what is referred to as "dispersed camping". In the western United States, a large percentage of the land is public land administered by the National Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). That means that this land belongs to the people of the United States and is, therefore, ours to use. So, in addition to staying in National Parks and developed campgrounds in National Forests, public lands are available for use by the public, including for camping. There are guidelines to be followed and some areas are restricted from use for camping, but there is still plenty of open space where Wanderers can spend a few days. Here is an excerpt from the BLMs web site regarding dispersed camping:

View from our front porch

It is the general policy of the BLM that undeveloped Federal lands under it's administration are available to the public for camping and general recreation, with the following provisions:

• Camping is limited to 14 days within a 30-mile radius in a 28 day period
• Pack out what you pack in
• Avoid camping within 200 ft. of any water source
• Do not leave campfires unattended. 

So, the Leos joined Nick and Suzy Watson and Jay and Ann Starnes in the scenic meadow at the Elk Creek trail-head. The elevation here was around 9,000 ft, so the temperature during the daytime was in the 70s with nighttime lows in the upper 30s. Not bad for early June. And an added plus...dispersed camping on public land is free.

During our stay here we also stopped by Mogote Meadow RV park, where we spent last summer, and caught up with our friend Ron McKay. Ron was busy building a deck in front of his travel trailer, which stays at Mogote year round.

Each evening during our stay, we got together with our friend for happy hour.

Happy Hour at Elk Creek trail-head (Suzy took the picture)

Ron McKay joined us for Happy Hour

The Trusty Companion found his own way to enjoy happy hour by dashing through the woods in search of any of natures creatures who might enjoy being chased. Of course, this had to involve a romp across the creek and its muddy banks.

Leo's version of Happy Hour.

  While we were in this location, I took my Guadalupe friends to the train stop at Ozier, the midpoint of the Cumbres and Toltec railroad, where we enjoyed lunch.

View from the road near Ozier

This is a very scenic drive that takes about 45 minutes going up a Forest Service road (dirt road) to an elevation of around 9,800 feet. The meadows were covered with beautiful yellow wildflowers (dandelions). Here they're wildflowers...not weeds.

Jay, myself, Suzy and Nick at Ozier (Ann took the picture)

The creeks and rivers in the Conejos Valley were running high while we were there, so we didn't get any fishing in during this stay. We stayed in the meadow for a week before heading on to Woodland Park. The first order of business here was to get Leo his summer haircut, so he won't be carrying so much campground dust and mud everywhere he goes.

Summer trimmed and feelin' feisty.

Since arriving in Woodland Park, we've been getting repairs made to our truck, finished two books, re-imaged the laptop and enjoyed access to good restaurants and shopping. The boondocks are great, but it's nice to get back to civilization for a while too. I did make one outing to Eleven Mile Canyon to fish and found a spot thick with trout. While standing in the water I could see several dozen within a ten foot radius of my feet. Some were even between my feet. Most looked like 15 to 18 inch fish and none were biting. I worked the area for about two hours until a thunder storm drove me off the river. I'll get back there again before we wander on.

For now, we are anxiously waiting for Maggie and Jonas to arrive to enjoy the Fourth of July with us on America's Mountain (Pikes Peak).

Vallecito

It's a rainy Sunday afternoon here in Vallecito, Colorado. We are wrapping up a two week stay in the Vallecito campground in the San Juan National Forest by spending the night in a private RV park. This gives us to opportunity to dump our tanks, refill the fresh water tank, do our laundry and get a good internet connection to catch up on the Wanderings.

Vallecito campground is 3 miles north of Vallecito Reservoir, which is 22 miles northeast of Durango, Colorado. This is the first time we have stayed in a Forest Service campground and we enjoyed it immensely. The campground is bordered by Vallecito Creek and the Weminuche Wilderness Area. 

Vallecito Creek by the campground

The Creek looked like it would be great fishing once the spring runoff subsides. But I was told by the park host that he has never seen anyone catch anything larger than fingerlings. Most of the fishing interest in the area is in the Vallecito Reservoir.

Staying in a Forest Service campground has been a new and significantly different experience for the Leos. Since it doesn't offer the amenities of an RV park, such as water, sewer and electrical hook-ups, the stay requires attention to basics. Water conservation is a key and we did pretty well until the middle of our second week. I have learned that while traveling up and down the mountain highways and back roads, we loose some of the full tank of fresh water we started with. We left the Cottonwood State Park with our 70 gallon tank full, but by the time we pulled into Vallecito it was down to 2/3. After about 10 days, we were running low. Of course we could have stretched it further by not taking a Navy shower every other day or not giving the Trusty Companion a bath on day ten, but some things are just worth hauling water for. Leo's coat has gotten long and is now working like a Swiffer Duster, picking up campground dirt by the pound. By day ten he was beginning to look a darker shade of grey than the squirrels. So, I broke out the Jerry cans and hauled water to get us back to 1/3 full.

There are trade offs for the extra effort required to stay in Forest Service campgrounds. Instead of paying $30 per night which is typical in an RV park, we were paying $8.50 per night with my Senior pass. But more important than the cost saving was the quiet solitude the campground offered.

View from our "front porch" in Vallecito campground

 While there were other camping parties in the campground, campsites are scattered and the forest is pretty dense, so the most often heard sounds were sounds of nature.The roar of the water in the creek was most prevalent and provided a constant backdrop for the barking of squirrels and chipmunks in the daytime and frogs and crickets at night.

When it came time to fish, we headed off to Vallecito Reservoir. Due to the drought in this part of the country, I was surprised to find that Vallecito Reservoir is almost full. I was told that this occurred unexpectedly from three days of heavy rains in early May. This is the first major lake I have seen in three years that is filled near capacity.

Vallecito Reservoir with burn scar in the background

North end of Vallecito Reservoir.

 This is a large lake, with 4.3 square miles of surface area. It's also deep and full of large trout and pike. While this is not my preferred type of fishing (sitting on the bank waiting for my rod tip to twitch) it was productive and the trout tasted good.

Vallecito Reservoir trout

In 2002, the area around Vallecito was hit hard by the Missionary Ridge Forest Fire, which burned over 70,000 acres between June 9 and July 28. 58 homes were lost, 28 of which were in the Vallecito valley. In a mission to pay tribute to the 4,000 firefighters who fought the blaze, a local wood carver, using actual photos taken during the fire, was commissioned to carve images of fire fighting personnel, animals and equipment. These carvings are now displayed at various locations around the valley and comprise the Tour of Carvings. Taking the tour was worth the drive. To see a slideshow of all 15 carvings, click here.

 

Tomorrow we will hook out of here and wander on. We will head through Pegosa Springs, then drop down through Chama, New Mexico to catch highway 17 north into the Conejos Valley of Colorado. We plan to hang there for a few days then head on north toward Pikes Peak.