Colorado Day #3

So by Sunday, day three of our Colorado adventure, we were already exhausted and decided to just hang around here locally (Pagosa Springs).  After eating breakfast, we got in the car and headed down to the springs and the river.  Arriving at the Visitor Center at 8:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning, we were met with a "Closed" sign.  We would have to come back later to get some info on the local stuff, but Jay had seen some things on Peidra Falls in Peidra Mountain so we headed that way.

There are forest fires out here right now.  There is a big one in northern Colorado and there is another one in New Mexico.  We were thankful to hear we wouldn't be near one...until we got to our resort and saw the smoke just over the hill.  Of course, 'just over the hill' is quite a distance, but still, we can see smoke on the horizon....and it is NOT getting smaller.   We headed in that direction to explore Peidra Falls anyway.

I could tell that Jay was sinking into 'Elk' mode quickly.  Just seeing the hills got him all excited.  He has been out here three times on Elk hunts and tells me each time he returns that we absolutely have to come out here because it's so beautiful.  I agreed and am glad we are out here, and that we're NOT on an elk hunt.  His idea of fun and my idea of fun are on two different shores.  I had the sneaking suspicion that Jay was taking us up the mountain under the guise of a water fall, when in actuality we were scoping out elk hunt sites.  I'm still not sure:)

We drove for what seemed like forever, which is how it is up here driving through and on these mountains.  You just keep going, all the while thinking, we have to be about there, don't we, we've been driving forever?  We passed the 'Hot Shots' and their worksite.  They are the firemen that get dropped down into the fires by the helicopters.  They are actively working, trying to calm the forest fire that is just behind us.  They gave us a wave and we continued on up.

We finally reached our destination, got out and headed up the trail to the falls.  It was a pretty easy hike, and although it may have been 40-50 degrees when we woke up, it was now creeping up into the upper 70's.  That's the pattern.  It is chilly at night, chilly in the morning and pretty warm during the day.  I don't mind it though!  It has been windy though and that is sorta annoying...and probably not good at all for the fires.  There were a couple places on this trail that were semi-tricky.  I stayed low to the ground a couple of times in case I started to slide.  Fun, fun.  Again, we stopped and talked to a local elderly gentleman on the trail and had the whole "where you from" conversation.  And of course, when he was a salesman, the Heath candy factory in Robinson was his territory.  Yes, of course, he knew right where we were from...Again, just crazy!

The Peidra Falls was nice.  We met an older gentleman up there and talked to him for a while as the kids played in the water.  I offered to take his picture since he was by himself and he took me up on it, mentioning he would send it to his wife, who was having knee surgery today.  Wow, I said, thinking, geesh, jerk, what in the world are you doing on a hike in Colorado if she's in Texas having surgery?   But I kept my trap shut:)

So this is what we drove up that mountain to see and it was nice and peaceful.  Jay and I mentioned every now and then when we'd see something like that, how crazy it must have been for the early settlers or Indians...they're traveling through and they come up over a hill and see a gorgeous waterfall.  By the time we got back to the car it was noon, Colorado time.  We needed to get off that mountain and eat!  We drove back down and ate at Boss Hogg's which was near our resort.  I was starving by 1:30 and it was delicious.  We were stuffed and tired so we came back and crashed for a few hours.

After a respite, we went back down to the Visitor's Center for local information and again were met with the Closed sign.  Sunday = short hours.  We ventured over to 'The Springs' spa and took a look at the hot springs.  We told the kids we would do that in a couple of days.  I am looking foward to it!  There are like 18 hot spring pools that you get to sit in and then you can walk down to the river and set in the sun too.

Madolyn had her heart set on water water rafting, which I have always wanted to do also.  As we were walking along the river, we saw a bunch of kids come in on tubes.  Boy, that looked fun...and then I touched the water.  OUCH, the water couldn't have been warmer than about 40-45 degrees.  It is slightly above freezing.  We visited an outfitter who said that the water levels were such that rafting was not possible, our only option would be tubing.  And that's when we tried to talk the kids out of it.  We took them back down along the river and made them get in the water and play around...hoping it would be too cold.  We 'may' have convinced Lane, but Madolyn is adamant.  Heaven, help me, I'll freeze to death!