Beautiful Rides..Beautiful Hikes..Beautiful Drives

Sportsman's Campground sits "smack-dab" in the middle of some of the most beautiful country in Colorado...the San Juan National Forest, the Weminuche Wilderness, and the area known as "The Great Divide" - the Continental Divide. We rode horses to such scenic areas that it is hard to describe the breath-taking wonder of it. From the Ice Cave Ridge to Chubb Draw and the Great Meadow, from Poison Park to Elk Park, along Williams Creek and the Piedra River Trail, you can ride for hours surrounded by tall Ponderosa pines, the stately Aspens, lush green meadowland, bountiful wildflowers of all shapes and colors and, of course, the wildlife.

We took several hikes, most notably the Williams Creek overlook (just out from the campground), the Piedra Falls trail (not long but a great view of the Falls that feed the Piedra River), and the Piedra River Trail (we only went to the footbridge..the full trail goes some 18 miles). This area has many nice hiking trails, some easy, some moderate, some challenging. The camp store had a rack with brochures of the trails.

Then there were the drives: Mosca Road was a forest service road that meandered for 26 miles into the National Forest, then came to a dead end. There was a plan in place at some point in the past to take the road all the way over to Vallecito (we were there last year). We never did hear why the road was not completed but I would hazard a guess that someone ran out of funds. I believe you can get to the end of Mosca Road, then hike on over to Vallecito (or perhaps ride a horse) but we were not that energetic! The road to Lobo Overlook was just the other side of the summit of Wolf Creek Pass. Wolf Creek Pass sits at 10,850 feet and Lobo Overlook is above that! The drive up to the Piedra Falls trail head was quite lovely...and we did it in late spring, mid-summer and early fall. Each season was unique. Blanco Basin was another great scenic drive, taking you farther into a canyon with great views of the surrounding mountains. Our attempt to get to Fish Creek in this area was thwarted one windy day by three tall Aspen trees that blew down directly in front of our little Honda car! Whew! Close call. Needless to say, we turned around and beat it out of there. The back way into Pagosa was the Plumtaw Road. Here we drove past ranches, forests, and spotted quite a bit of wildlife.

Frankly, there really were no plain drives, hikes, or rides. There is just too much grandeur around this part of Colorado for that.

The Road Runners
Buddy & Elaine
1 Thess. 5:18
PTL!