For this trip in late May, we were traveling north to Creede, Colorado and specifically to see the North Clear Creek Falls.
Our first stop was at the top of Taos Ski Valley near the Bavarian Lodge & Restaurant. We had planned to hike up to Williams Lake, but there was more snow on the trail then we expected so we canned that plan. After a hike around the area, we thought we might try to stealth overnight, but there was a lot of snow and it was pretty mushy on the dirt at that elevation. So, we went back down towards the
Twining Campground at the base of the Taos ski area. There are lots of empty parking areas and we thought we could stay overnight, but it was still early in the day. Being early in the afternoon, we decided to continue north.
I know about a little recreation area with a pond in Northern New Mexico called the
Sanchez Stabilizing Reservoir that had a little free primitive camping area with some cement tables. It's a fishing lake. After a nice dinner, we stayed overnight. It was a very pleasant spot.
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| Greg at our pleasant boondocking spot at Sanchez Stabilizing Reservoir: 37.1683083,-105.5187944. |
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| Dinner in the van on the new table. It worked out beautifully. |
The next morning, after breakfast by the reservoir, we headed further north on Highway 159. In San Luis Colorado, which is just over the Colorado state line, we stopped to hike up to Shrine of the Stations of the Cross, in the center of town. We've pasted this trail on many trips to Colorado and it was time to hike up!
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| One of the stations of the cross on the trail up the hill to the Shrine in San Luis, Colorado. |
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| Karen near the Shrine at the top. |
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| One of the Stations near the Shrine. |
Here is a link to a video that was taken at the Shrine in San Luis, Colorado:
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| Outside the Shrine. |
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| There was a short additional hike with many Martyr Priests busts. |
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| Another Martyr Bust with the Shine in the background. San Luis, Colorado |
It's a nice hike to the Shrine, even if you're not all that religious.
After heading back down to our van, we drove the rest of the way to Creede, arriving mid-afternoon. Creede is a very scenic old mining town turned tourist town that is at the entrance to a high walled canyon. We toured the town. It reminded me a lot of Silver City, Colorado. The same sort of old mining town feel with interesting old shops.
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| A creek ditch runs through Creede Colorado. |
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| Creede has a Mac and Cheese food truck spot. Karen loves Mac and Cheese!!!! |
After Karen's snack, we continued on Highway 149 to
North Clear Creek Falls Observation Site.
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| North Clear Creek Falls, Colorado |
Here is a link to a short video taken at the North Clear Creek Falls Observation Site:
After enjoying these beautiful falls, we took a bit of a dicey dirt forest road into the backcountry find a good boondocking spot. Boy did we find a great spot!
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| The Sock Monkeys liked this beautiful spot and wanted to stay. |
I was a bit worried about the weather and wasn't sure about how difficult it would be to get out of this spot if it got muddy, so we headed a bit further down the forest road to an official forest service campground ($16) called
Bristol Head which was near to the highway. Turned out that the storm never came. I wish we had stayed here! We had a nice overnight at Bristol Head campground. It was not crowded at all with maybe two other campers and the camp host.
The next day we made our way to Pagosa Springs, Colorado and had a nice hike around town. We stopped in at
The Springs Resort & Spa for a selfie. (We didn't soak this day.)
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| At The Springs Resort & Spa. It's the Disneyland of hot springs resorts. |
After our hike and a light dinner in the van, overlooking the mountains, we headed to the Junction Restaurant at the edge of Pagosa Springs to overnight among the truckers.
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| Our light dinner at Tractor Supply where there is a great view of the mountains. |
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| We parked against the hillside overnight near the truckers and another RV at the Junction Restaurant. |
In the morning, we planned to have breakfast at the Junction Restaurant. We like to patronize places where we park for free in order to pay them back for allowing overnight parking. We went in and waited and waited and waited. There were hardly any customers and the waitresses were not very busy, but for some reason they just completely ignored us. We finally just left and headed to our favorite breakfast cafe in Pagosa Springs,
The Rose. Oh Yum!!!!
By the way, if you are in Pagosa and want to soak, we recommend the
Overlook Hot Springs. The overlook is much calmer and more relaxing place than nearby Springs Resort & Spa. The Overlook has some indoor tubs that are really nice, some rooftop tubs overlooking the river and some new single tubs out in a back courtyard that just opened recently (that we have not tried yet). They also have fantastic showers.
After our breakfast, we head home.
Next up: Valley View Hot Springs and Greg's trip around Colorado.
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