Last Day in Durango

June 27, 2010 One of the treats of staying at this campground was meeting our “neighbors” of a couple of days. Sonette Steyn and Lisa Herzog are enjoying their first camping experience and it involves 10 days in this location, to enjoy all the activities available in the Durango area. Sonnette is an author, poet, artist, photographer, and Lisa is an executive in the health care field. They are both from Santa Fe, but Sonette is originally from South Africa and Lisa from San Francisco. They were such a delight to visit with in the couple of days we lived next door to them! Our day was pretty much spent in town dealing with logistics and just scoping out the town. We went to the campus of Ft. Lewis College to view an exhibit on Mountain Lions, but it was closed on Sunday. We wanted to do some more looking in Earthen Vessels, a top-notch pottery gallery, but it was closed on Sunday. We visited Gardenswartz Outdoor store again just because they have so many neat camping gizmos. We were going to rent bikes to ride along the 5-mile trail along the Animas River as it winds through town, but a thunderstorm dashed those plans. So we went to Durango Joes and had a ‘brainfreeze’, a suitable name for the frozen caffeine concoction. Charlcie spent some time there while I walked down to try a little fly-fishing in the Animas – I didn’t do so hot and I’m blaming it on too much runoff and too many rafters passing by. Had to try Serious Texas BBQ for lunch. The cherry-chipotle sauce was quite good on the pulled pork sandwiches, but overall the BBQ did not measure up to KTs in Gassville, Penguin Ed’s in Fayetteville, or McClard’s in Hot Springs – all in Arkansas, of course. The temperature dropped down to 40-degrees at night in the campground. The temps, the sound of the stream, the smell of the fresh mountain air – cuddling up in those sleeping bags in the back of the truck was never so cozy!

Staying on in Durango

June 26, 2010 The Durango area is so nice, with much to do and see. We decided we would spend more time here if we could find a suitable camping area not too far from town. Charlcie did some on-line research and was able to locate a private campground in a canyon just a few miles up the road. Lightner Creek Campground is a very well managed facility with spotless restrooms/bathhouses/camping sites. We were able to secure a site on the bank of Lightner Creek, a stream fed primarily by snow runoff. The sound of the water riffling down the mountainside just outside our tent made for ideal sleeping conditions for the two nights we stayed here. We met a fellow named Bill Davis from Van Buren, AR, and a couple from Greers Ferry, AR on our evening walk. Always good to see fellow Arkies on our travels (well, almost always!). We went in to Durango to the Irish Embassy Pub/Restaurant to watch the USA play Ghana in the World Cup. The food was good, the standing-room-only crowd was boisterous, and we had a great time in spite of the loss. We were able to take an evening drive several miles up a canyon road in the Perino Peak State Wildlife Management area – saw only one deer, but the scenery was truly amazing. In fact, around every corner, we seem to come across yet another fabulously beautiful landscape out here. I am going to try uploading a couple of videos to see how they perform on the blog. One of them is when the USA scored a goal to tie the game – they turned the lights out when the game started, so you won’t see too much, but you can hear the excitement of the fans! The other is of the water in Lightner Creek tumbling over the rocks and down the mountain to its confluence with the Animas River in Durango.

Larry Fishes, Charlcie Shops

June 25, 2010 I could not travel this far without spending more time on the San Juan, but there was nothing for Charlcie to do while I was fishing. Durango has a very fine trolley system that runs by our motel about every 20 minutes, so that allowed me to take the truck and travel the 50 miles back down to the San Juan. Charlcie was then able to spend the day doing the shopping and tourist thing. She visited most of the unique shops, bookstores, and galleries in town. At the river, it was very surprising that there were so few fishermen on the San Juan on a Friday. I was able to pretty much fish the Upper Flats anywhere I chose. Again, it was a very rewarding day for fishing – maybe I do know a little something about fly-fishing. Was able to land several rainbows in the 15”-17” range, although I didn’t manage to catch any of the 20”+ rainbows that this tailwater is known for. The fish are so colorful and healthy here. The walk from the river back to the truck was made a little more exciting as a small snake swam ahead of me on the watery trail, and then as I was climbing up the switchback trail, a three-foot long snake darted between my legs. I was able to tell it was not a rattler, but haven’t had the opportunity to check a reference to see which variety it was. I was able to return late afternoon so we had time to ride the trolley to the Historic District to have dinner on the patio at the Old Timers Café, a longtime local favorite. Dining on an outside patio under the trees in 60-degree, no humidity weather is such a treat this time of year. We are having such a fun time!