On the Road Again

Sunset over Caprock Canyon

It feels great to be headed west today. Our first stop was Caprock Canyon State Park near Canyon, Texas. Known for its painted hills and wild bison herd, Caprock has become our launching point for many of our trips. We arrived after the park closed and found our reserved site was a walk-in... hardly conducive to our rig. No worries. We camped in our favourite spot, the overflow area. We watched a glorious sunset and enjoyed a cooling breeze. By morning the temperature was in the low sixties. 

As we left the park, we found a portion of the wild bison meandering on the road. We spied several bathed in red dirt and early morning light. 

My navigator David is working overtime this trip. We can’t travel our normal route through New Mexico because the state is under a mandatory 14-day quarantine if we even cross the border or travel through in a single day. The western portion of Colorado is plagued with wildfires. We have chosen a route just north of New Mexico, along the southern edge of Colorado.  Thankfully, the folks at the visitor centre in Trinidad told us the area is free of wildfires. 

Our first several days of travel are always long. It was near 6:30 when we settled into our first campsite in Colorado along the Highway of Legends. We found a dispersed campsite near Cochura at over 10,000 feet in altitude.  The site was along a creek and high in the mountains, surrounded by deep forest. The best part was it was cool enough to don sweatshirts... something we have been longing to do for months. These are the times, however, when being a flatlander has extreme disadvantages.  After we huffed and puffed up the road a short distance, we were in bed by 7:30 between the high altitude and time change. 

We awoke from an eleven-hour sleep refreshed and ready to roll. We took Forest Road 250, a gravel road that runs along the Rio Grande National Forest and the eastern side of the South San Juan Wilderness area. It was an easy day of travel. Tonight we camp in the valley and at the base of  Big Red and Little Red mountains. The view is spectacular. 

Big Red and Little Red Mountains

Tomorrow we hope to head west on 160 through Pagosa Springs and Durango, then turn north of Delores and on to visit old friends... the Spring Creek Basin wild horse herd from our 2016 trip. Hopefully we will still be south of the fires and able to access the BLM land where they reside. We may not see bears this year, but I have my heart set on photographing wild horses.