Day 32-July 2, 2015-To The Rockies
Drove 177 miles in 5-1/2 hours. Temp started at 85 and went down to 53 at the top of the pass.
The truck idiot light that says “Check Coolant Additive” has been on for a few days so we first stopped at Keesee Ford in Cortez and Miguel checked it and reset it. Seems when you get to a certain mileage they think you should check it. And we did.
Continued on Route 160 east through Cortez, Mancos, the Hesperus ski area, and over the Animas River into Durango-a quite large city-but we only saw the outskirts, through the San Juan National Forest, past horse farms, little towns nestled in the valleys and Chimney Rock-another home to hundreds of cliff dwellings. Stopped at a nice pine tree parking lot in Pagosa Springs for lunch. Pagosa Springs, at an altitude of 7000’, has the world’s deepest hot springs and lots of attractions and things to do centered around the springs and the river that runs through it. It’s quite a quaint little town, one we’d probably like to come back to sometime. They were setting up for a 4th of July carnival and the town was really bustling with tourists.
Still on Route 160, but now the road has deteriorated and it’s quite a bumpy ride. And a storm is coming, we can see the black clouds and lightning ahead. And we’re about to climb the Wolf Creek Pass-10,859’, over the Continental Divide, on a road that’s twisty and curvy and steep. And we can barely see in front of us. And it’s pouring. And there’s a new rockslide on the side of the road that’s spilled into our lane. And there’s beautiful pine trees all around us that smell wonderful. And there’s snow on the mountain in the distance. And everything is lush and green compared to the stark desert we’ve been in for days. And there’s the raging river always by our side. And the temperature is down to 53. And the rain has caused beautiful waterfalls coming down the sides of the cliffs on the side of the road. And now we’re at the top and it’s wonderful! And it’s stopped raining, at least for a little while. There were two tunnels, the first that said “Tight Curve” and it certainly was. We’re now in the Rio Grande National Forest on the Rio Grande River. Our campground is in Del Norte, (pronounced Del Nort, forget the e on the end). It’s high-over 7500’ in altitude. Nice little campground right on the Rio Grande River. Only 26 sites. Cotton from the cottonwood trees is blowing all around like snow until we get another blast of the storm that wets it all down. Just about got finished setting up and the wind and rain and thunder and lightning started again but only lasted about a half hour. Cooled everything down to about 55-the fresh air feels wonderful.