Leaving the desert for the mountains

June 24, 2010 According to folks around here, this has been a very dry, dusty spring. No campfires are allowed in the forests now as there have been several forest fires. We decided after two nights camping at the Cottonwood Campgrounds we would seek respite from the heat. In most places out here you can seek shade and it will provide a cool spot to escape the heat, but in the high dessert in the middle of the day, that doesn’t work. So we moved on to Durango. It’s incredible what 50 miles of highway brings in the way of changed topography and climate. On the way out of the state park we took some pictures that display the beauty of the river – our campground is on the far bank in the picture here. Also included here is a picture Charlcie took of the cottonwood up close – when the wind blows, the little cotton thingies fill the air and give the appearance of snow. Looks inviting doesn’t it? That’s because you can’t feel the heat, taste the dust, feel the grit in between your toes, or hear the buzz of the mosquitoes. Durango is a very nice town with many nice galleries, shops, and places to eat. After settling in the Spanish Trails motel, we got cleaned up (boy that feels good!) and enjoyed dinner at the Steamworks Brewery and Restaurant as recommended by one of the publications here. This town seemingly has a microbrewery every few blocks and all include restaurants, which produce some very tasty food.

Challenges and Someone is looking out for us!

We don't know if it's our organization, or lack thereof, or our brains (especially mine) are in full disengagement mode, or we're just having so much fun that we are losing focus, but we have had some anxious moments. Here are some examples: After we ordered the famous green chile chesseburger at The Sportsman, as we were talking, we realized that Charlcie did not have her sunglasses and I remembered I left the locking pin to the cargo hauler on the back bumper of the truck. Charlcie thought she might have dropped her sunglasses in the camp parking area and feared we had run over them. I knew that a trip across a couple of miles of bumpy dirt road had flipped the locking pin off the back bumper. We were a little bummed at the moment. But on the trip back to the campsite, we recovered the pin from the middle of the road. We found Charlcie's sunglasses under the hammock. Relief! The next day, my first day on the San Juan, my mind was certainly not tuned in to anything other than fishing. As I said, the trip from the parking area requires some work and takes about 30 minutes to reach the river. When Charlcie picked me up after about 3 hours, as I was loading my stuff in the truck I decided I wanted to show her the fish picture - only to discover that my camera was missing. I instantly remembered where I had left it, so I made the round-trip back to retrieve it. This old body was really worn out after that ordeal but very lucky to have the camera back. And that's not all! Charlcie had placed my very expensive fly rod on the luggage rack and we forgot to stow it IN the truck. I realized it some 10 miles later as we reached the entrance to the campground. Since the roads contain some very large potholes, which we managed to visit, I was absolutely sick knowing that there was no way the rod was still on top of the truck. Charlcie stopped the truck so I could check and amazingly the rod was still there. We're convinced even more now that this journey was meant to be - in spite of our old and crazy moments, someone is taking care of us!

Finally get to fish the famous San Juan River!

June 23, 2010 Finally get to fish the San Juan River this morning. Touted as one of the top fly-fishing destinations in the country, and I was soon to find out its reputation is befitting. Large numbers of quality fish, both in terms of size and beauty – and even I could catch them! In fact, on my first cast, hooked a very large fish, only to have the fly break off after a couple of minutes. On the very next cast, a 12” brown trout. All other fish caught on this gorgeous river were rainbow trout and none under 14”. Thanks to Michael and Todd at McLellan’s Fly Shop in Fayetteville for their advice and fly recommendations. I fished the Upper Flats area, which the lady at Abe’s recommended as the hottest wade-in spot. It takes some doing to get from the parking area to the river and back and is a little spooky on the first attempt. A hike down a steep embankment on a switchback trail, through some marsh, into tunnels of willow thickets on a watery trail, and trudge through a hundred yards of muck and then I’m in the river. For a first-timer, it was like negotiating a claustrophobic maze. Charlcie had planned to carry a chair, book, and camera to join me for the morning, but after seeing the challenge ahead, decided to retreat to the campsite to enjoy the hammock and some alone time. The pictures of the fish aren’t very good quality as I tried to minimize their time out of the water while I grabbed the camera to take the picture with one hand. The vivid colors are not captured in the images. In the afternoon we made a trip to Farmington, NM to gather some needed supplies. To us, a rather unremarkable town, but sporting the largest new Wal-Mart we have ever witnessed, and with prices much lower than we had been seeing out here.

To Navajo Lake State Park/San Juan River

June 22, 2010 I fished for about an hour in the Rio Chama that runs behind our motel, the Riverbend Lodge. Caught one fish, but added another stream to the list I have fished. Meanwhile, Charlcie was stalking a magpie - they omnipresent in these parts, but difficult to get near. After a traditional pancake breakfast at the Elkhorn Café (taking a break from the green chiles!) we headed for Navajo Lake State Park in far northwestern New Mexico. This is high dessert country and Navajo Lake is truly an oasis. The lake is beautiful and the San Juan River tailwater below it is known as one of the top fly-fishing destinations in the country. Notice all the houseboats anchored in uniform lines out into the lake - apparently the owners leave them there and are ferried out to their boats when they visit. For the next two nights, we camped at the Cottonwood Campground, the only one of several that has trees. After setting up camp, we took a short hike along the river and then headed to The Sportsman to share one of their famous green chile cheeseburgers (can’t get away from those green chiles!) There are two institutions in this part of the country, The Sportsman and Abe’s, and they are famous with fly-fishers. They, along with other establishments around here, are like mini Wal-Marts – they carry a little of everything. Some groceries, a restaurant or café, some hardware, some hunting and fishing supplies, and in the case of Abe’s, gas for your car, RV camping sites, and a motel. They’ve been around for over 50 years and still going.