Camping in the trees at Lower Hermosa Creek. Yes, this is a back in site! We didn’t have a problem…now leveling, that’s another story. We used all the leveling blocks and were still uneven. It felt like being on a fishing boat.

Durango is your typical mountain town. It is surrounded with gorgeous views. And also like most mountain towns it is highly dependent upon tourists. Another thing we’ve noticed is mountain towns seem to have the same cast of characters. Durango’s cast of characters could easily be Mammoth’s cast of characters. I’ll just leave it at that.

We spent four nights at Lower Hermosa Creek campground. It is a free campground in the San Juan National Forest about 14 miles outside of town. It is a long 14 miles, which kind of doesn’t make it free as you commute back into town daily for rides, shopping, and a brewery visit.

The campground was beautiful but it had a strange vibe. What we’ve found out is there’s a big difference between a free campground and a boon docking spot. We much prefer a nice boon docking spot.

No, we did not take the train to Silverton.

For rides we did The Colorado Trail-Dry Fork, Hermosa Creek Trail, and Horse Gulch/Telegraph trails.

Four nights is all we spent in Durango, as we were leaving town heading towards Cortez, we kind of felt we didn’t give the town a fair shake.

Serendipity! We were in Durango the same time as our friend Joy. She used to live in SD, now she’s in Park City, but in Durango on a business trip. This shot is from Ska Brewery.

A couple of fine beverages from Ska. 2 for $5. What a deal.

Oh yeah, did I mention Joy is a professional mountain biker? She guided us on the Colorado Trail. Many a guy has hurt himself trying to keep up with her on the downhills. It’s absolute poetry in motion watching her handle her bike.

Amelia and Joy, Gudy’s Rest on the Colorado Trail.

Queen of Lower Hermosa Creek Campground.

A field of lupine on the Hermosa Creek Trail.

Telegraph trail. We got of there just in time.