Salida is a cool little town. My first impression was: it’s like a beach community because of all the people riding around on their townies and beach cruisers. It has a different, better vibe than most mountain towns. The Arkansas River is the center of attention and all the activities that go with it. Mountain biking is also big. The town has a population of around 5,300 and three bike shops!

Way back in December of 2014 we met a couple at Catalina State Park in Arizona from Salida, Tim and Lisa. Of course Amelia has kept in touch with Lisa. The first thing we did in Salida was visit her at their house. Amelia really wanted to see her work studio and figure out when we could meet up with them. One of the memorable lines from Lisa was, “The deer aren’t cute. They are pests.” We certainly saw a lot of them, especially where there was green grass and shade. It was so common we didn’t even bother to take any pictures. I guess the cuteness wears off when they are tearing up your yard.

Our first two rides were unguided with us relying on the Trailforks app and a bike shop map. It seemed like all we did was climb and go the wrong direction. We did not have as much fun as we were expecting. I kept saying I’m going to reserve judgment until the end of the trip, but I certainly wasn’t seeing the goods our friends in San Diego had been hyping. Then I hooked up with Tim for a Saturday ride. Wow, nothing like having a local guide you around. The hype was real. This place is fun! On Sunday Amelia joined Tim and me for a shuttle ride. I drew a little blood, but the route was awesome. Thank you Tim!

Originally we booked five nights at Mt Shavano KOA, ten miles west of Salida. What a dump. You’d think we’d be happy because it was virtually empty, but the emptiness gave the park a creepy feel. After three nights we bailed and went to Four Season RV Park on the east side of Salida.

What’s a trip in the mountains without unhitching or hitching up at least once in a deluge? That’s what we experienced when we unhitched at Four Seasons. We got soaking wet, but we were happy to be out of Charlie Manson’s campground. (That’s what I was calling the KOA. Amelia didn’t like me saying that). And we had a nice view of the Arkansas River twenty yards from our bedroom window.

The one ride we really wanted to do, the Monarch Crest, was not open. There’s still too much snow at 11,000-12,000 feet. Oh well…

The KOA. It looks nice in the picture, but it wasn’t.

Cool butterfly donation box at one of the Methodist Mountain Trailheads.  

The landmark S-Mountain

You gotta love a Big Lebowski reference.

Amelia on one of the exposed trails.

Nice little brewery. We met Lisa and Tim here on Friday night.

Get off the table!  On Saturday while I was riding with Tim, Amelia was getting the Airstream ready for our short drive to Four Seasons.  So the table was cleared off of the usual stuff like fruit bowl and flower vase.  When she got out of the shower, there was the Puggle.  There’s no denying her the morning sun.

Four Seasons RV Park. Close quarters but better than Charlie’s campground!

Our view of the Arkansas River. 

This pest didn’t make it through the winter. Now he’s a greeter at a trail intersection.

Tim and Amelia on the Sand Dune Trail

Looking towards Monarch Pass

Stunning

We love sand dunes.  There’s just something about being on them.  It’s a different sensation than any other outdoor experience.  And it’s a super workout trudging uphill with the reward of running down them.

We were here in 2000 for just a few hours with our friend Dianni.  That was before it became a national park; back then it was a national monument.  I’m pretty sure it wasn’t as crowded in 2000.  If you want to attract large crowds all you have to do is attach national park at the end of a name!

The unusual thing about this national park was we didn’t see a single Euro or Asian.  How strange.  I’m guessing 75% of the visitors were Coloradoans.

There’s a main dune access area where all the families go to pretend they are at the beach and to climb the lower dunes and sled.  What an awesome thing for families to do. There’s also a primitive area 4 miles north, of which 1.5 miles is a 4×4 recommended dirt road.  There are no crowds, but if you do happen to see someone the dunes are so expansive you never have to cross paths.

The most amazing thing is this time of the year Medano Creek pulses with rhythmic waves called surge flow.  I was calling them mini tsunamis.  The creek would be calm, then out of nowhere you could hear, then see a surge coming. The surge occurs when the antidunes in the creek bed break.

And now a little humor.  It’s so entertaining observing the going ons of a campground.  I have no doubt our fellow campers get a kick out of us.  My favorite observation this stop was when a wife stuck her head out of their fifth-wheel and yelled, “Honey fire up the generator I need to use the microwave.”

Pinyon Flats Campground site 17

Surge flow on Medano Creek and Mt. Herard in the background.

Nothing like a wide open expanse of sand dunes to make one feel small

This brazen mule deer was coming right at Amelia and me while we were sitting outside.  Sara was in the Airstream having a conniption fit.  So I leashed her up and brought her out.  She’s a big talker while in her Airstream, but she didn’t say boo when face to face with the deer.

Medano Creek looking downstream from the main dune access area

Early bird gets the worm. On our second day we got up early and went to the main dune area so we could hike up to High Dune.  When we came down the crowds were forming like a summer day in Pacific Beach.

Crazy scene: families setting up for the day with chairs, blankets, water toys, and implements for digging in the sand.  Just families having fun.

Folks streaming in as we were leaving.

Campground sunset

Amelia trying to follow my footsteps

Our deepest crossing

Narrowleaf Penstemon

Early evening after a thundershower

Solitude

It was an above ground pool.  I haven’t seen one of those in years.

Our friend, Needles, gave us the hot tip about Pagosa Riverside Campground. It’s just a few miles east of Pagosa Springs. He said as long as you get a riverfront spot it’s a good stop. So we made reservations months in advance and got one. He was right. It was a good two-night stop.

The weather was perfect for sitting in front of the Airstream under the awning. It’s quite relaxing listening to and watching the San Juan River flow. Because of the big snowmelt it was running high and fast. Occasionally some rafters would float by, we would wave and they would wave back. That was how we spent most of our time.

When not doing that we putzed around the Airstream and did chores like checking all the screws inside to see if any of them had loosened. Real exciting stuff.

The only time we left the campground was to go into town with Sara and walk the Riverwalk Loop. We didn’t spend the money to soak in any of the famous hot springs. Commercialized crowded hot springs aren’t really our scene, though I’m sure it probably would’ve felt great.

Relaxing

And walking Sara

Little libraries used to be the cool thing, now it’s bee hotels!

This dark ominous cloud amazingly enough only produced a few sprinkles.

The Mother Spring. It sources all of Pagosa’s hot springs. Guinness Book of World Records claims this is the deepest hot springs aquifer in the world, at least 1,002 feet deep.

One of the hot springs resorts.

Occasionally the vibrations of the road will strip a screw and it needs to be repaired. Jam wood glue and toothpicks into the hole. Let dry over night, snap off the toothpicks, file smooth, then replace the screw. Problem solved.

One of the fun things about traveling is sampling the local beer. I rate this one 6.5 out of 10, but the name an 11!

Morning sun on the San Juan

Phil’s World, a singlespeeder’s paradise

From Prescott it took us seven plus hours to arrive at the KOA in Cortez.  Amelia is enamored with the brothers that own KOA Cortez and they are enamored with her.  It’s quite a little mutual admiration society.   And why not, all three have the same personalities: friendly, always greeting people, waving, and smiling.  The two brothers, Shawn and Bernie, run the best campground we’ve ever visited.  I had no doubt they would remember Amelia.

While Amelia went to the office to see her guys and check in, I was walking Sara around. I just had the sense something was different.  Amelia finally came out of the office with a disappointed look on her face.  The brothers had just sold the campground; escrow had closed over Memorial Day weekend.  We hope they got a bundle.  They really did a terrific job building up the business.  We miss them.  Hopefully the new owners can maintain the high standards.

Phil’s World is our favorite mountain bike ride.  I refer to it as singlespeed paradise.  I could go on and on with flowery adjectives and probably bore all the non riders to death.  Well, our favorite place just got better.  They’ve added more trails!  It’s a long haul from San Diego but we’ve got to figure out how to get a group of friends out here.

Up next uncharted territory!  How exciting 🙂

Site 24 KOA Cortez

Amelia on Lemonhead trail with Sleeping Ute Mountain in the background.

Smooth Spreading Four O’Clocks dotted the landscape.

Glow

Female Cabbage White Butterfly on a Sunflower

Scarlet Globemallow

They are big on bones at Phil’s World.

Sego Lily

Wow, brand new trailhead, brand new trails, with more new trails to come!

What a great use of BLM land!

Amelia on the new Highline Trail

Amelia said it’s time to get rid of this t-shirt.  What the heck it’s a perfectly good shirt for biking.

We hit one brewery in Cortez: Wild Edge Brewing Collective.  Their IPA’s weren’t quite up to San Diego standards, but Amelia loved their sour beer, Razzmatazz, so much so she got herself a 32oz Can’teen to go.

Sara goes absolute nuts over soft serve ice cream.  We had a nice lunch at Burger Boy.

Evening light on Mesa Verde

Sara’s bliss. Seventy-eight degrees, fifty-five miles per hour, eyes squinting, ears flapping and nose working overtime.

Prescott, the first stop on our big summer of ’19 trip.  The majority of our time will be spent in Colorado.  Prescott is about half way.  It took us eight hours.  The boss has put her foot down and said, “Never again will we drive that long.”

That’s probably a good idea. We were pretty tired when we arrived, so tired we got ourselves into a tight spot with a tree while trying to back into our site.  It was nearly a disaster.

The first three days the weather was in the mid 80s, which is manageable.  Our last day it was over 90.  No bueno.  The Airstream feels like a cave with all the windows closed, blinds down, and the noisy AC cranking.

We did three rides.  The first two rides we’ve done before, which helps eliminate the bickering on the trail about directions.  There’ll be plenty of time for that when we hit all the new places in Colorado.

The third ride was a new area called Spence Basin.  A fellow mountain biker in the campground gave us the tip.  He even gave us an updated map and laid out a trail by trail course for us, but we still managed to get turned around which led to some quality bickering.  Spence Basin was super fun.  If you mountain bike, put it on your list.

And remember kids, Prescott rhymes with Biscuit.

Point of Rocks RV Campground site #54.  Same spot we had two years ago.

The old girl swaying in the morning sun.

Goodding’s Verbena lining the Badger Mountain Trail

Some old guy I’ve never seen before trying to help us fix the drawer under one of the kitchen seats.  He couldn’t help us.  It’ll be one of those things that gets addressed when we are back in town.

Finally someone saying something about the fake service animals.

On the Pipeline Trail some clever person put little figurines of three people, a park bench, trees, and shrubs inside a broken portion of the pipe.

West Side Story in Spence Basin

Ha, ha, ha, Russ T. Fender Trail in Spence Basin

Tatanka Trail, guess where?  Spence Basin!  We really enjoyed it.

New Mexico Locust

Our last day it was ninety-one shitty degrees with eleven percent humidity.  At least the biking clothes dried super quick.

Once the afternoon chores were done Amelia treated herself to an ice cold Tecate with salt and lime.