Northern New Mexico, Hiking Great Sand Dunes, Road Bicycling Cochetopa Pass, and Visiting Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

Our fall travels are a meander through northern New Mexico and across southern Colorado to get to Moab, Utah to spend the beautiful month of October bicycling, hiking and canyoneering with friends in the colorful slick rock country. On the way we visit new places and revisit some old favorites.

Our campsite at Cochiti Lake in the desert.

2015 Fall Travels of the Mercury, Sept. 29th to Oct. 5th.

Our first night out is at Cochiti Lake, a Corps of Engineers campground at Cochiti Reservoir on the Rio Grande River north of Albuquerque. The campground is laid out well with lake views, electric hookup and no hookup sites, dump station and water, restrooms and showers,. There is also a boat ramp and fishing. The cost is $12 per night, $6 with Senior Pass. The lake is half way between Albuquerque and Santa Fe and a bit of a drive off I-25 but if you’re looking for a scenic place to stay away from the cities when you visit the area it’s a nice option.

Eagle Nest Lake State Park campground.

From Cochiti Lake we took I-25 to Las Vegas, NM then the scenic drive on Hwy 518 through the Sangre de Christo Mountains to Taos. We continue north on Hwy 522 to Questa and take Hwy38 through Red River to camp at Eagle Nest Lake State Park. This little jewel is set in a grassy basin surrounded by tall peaks. The campground has no hookups sites, covered picnic tables and pit toilets, no water or dump. There is a boat ramp and fishing. The cost is $10 with no discounts unless you have a NM parks pass.  There are also commercial campgrounds in the little community of Eagle Nest if you need facilities.

Eagle Nest Lake and village. The aspen are turning on the mountain.

A storm brews over Eagle Nest.

A beautiful sunset graces the Eagle Nest valley before the rain comes.

We continue our scenic drive on US 64 from Eagle Nest back to I-25 and over Raton Pass to Trinidad, CO. South of Trinidad we turn west on Hwy 12, a scenic byway called The Highway of Legends. This beautiful little two lane meanders through old Spanish communities, aspen cloaked mountainsides and razor-backed volcanic dikes. A good alternate route to I-25.

Highway 12, The Highway of Legends, in southern Colorado.

We find a turnoff to Blue Lake and end up driving 8 miles up a washboard gravel road to the Blue Lake campground, a Pike-San Isabel National Forest Campground. We picked Blue Lake on a whim not realizing we'd climb to over 10,000 ft. This little jewel is a small campground in a clearing among tall firs and spruce. There are pit toilets but no water or other facilities. The cost is $15 per night or $7.50 with the Senior Pass. The nice thing about the campground were the numerous trails that linked the campground to Blue and Bear Lakes making it easy to take short 3 to 4 miles hikes. You can also try your skill fishing for trout. Oh, unbelievably we had good phone and data coverage!

Blue Lake Campground at over 10,000 ft. in the Pike-San Isabel National Forest.

Shadows climb up the mountain sides as we watch a sunset from our camp.

Bear Lake is a destination on trails that leave from the campground.

Our next destination is Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, one of our favorites. The sites in the campground are mostly small with only a few large enough for big rigs. All sites are no hookup; there are restrooms, a dump station and water available in the campground. The cost is $20 per night, $10 with Senior Pass. From the campground it’s an easy walk to the dunes.

Our campsite at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

It was just our luck to be there when storms were kicking up the wind and blowing sand making it impossible to get out on the dunes but we managed a nice hike along the creek that flows around the edge of the dunes. It’s a desert oasis. Where are those camels?

Three worlds: mountain, sand and chaparral.

Little Madano Creek sculpts the edge of the dunes. 

The campground and the dunes.

From the Great Sand Dunes we cross the San Luis Valley and at Saguache take CO 114 heading for Gunnison.  Aspen’s are turning and there’s no better way to see the fall color than unload the bikes and take one of our favorite rides from the valley to the Continental Divide at the top Cochetopa Pass at 10,135 ft. It's about a 20 mile ride with light traffic and good road surface. The road rolls through the valley but offers some pretty stiff climbing in the last 5 miles. 

Aspens in fall color on the bike ride to Cochetopa Pass

Getting the the top of a climb feels pretty darn good.

At the end of the day all we desired was a little piece of real estate to spend a quiet night. Nothing can be more real or quieter than a boon dock off a little dirt road high in the Colorado Rockies. No services, no facilities, no people, and cost: Free.

A boon dock in complete solitude somewhere near the Continental Divide. 

We drive to Gunnison the next day and head west on US 50 to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. When we saw the gorge in the 1980’s there was only a dirt road to a single overlook on the rim. It was just one deep canyon. This became a National Park in 1999. Now there’s a nice visitor center and paved drive along the rim to several outstanding viewpoints. The full scale and beauty of the canyon is revealed and worthy of being a National Park. You can imagine that here there be dragons here when you look into its dark, craggy depths.

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

The view of jagged fins from Gunnison Point.

Looking down at the Gunnison River over 2,000 ft below.

Our little Panasonic give us a surprisingly clear shot of the rapids 2,000+ ft. below.
The big boulders and rapids make it impossible to run the gorge in rafts or kayaks.

Where the horizontal and vertical meet.

The view from Painted Wall overlook.

The Painted Wall become more stark and ominous through a filter.

The west end of Black Canyon viewed from Dragon Point.

Dozens of pairs of Ravens were playing in the updrafts at Dragon Point.

Light is always changing in the Gorge.

We spend the night at Stevens Creek BLM campground on the Blue Mesa Reservoir west of Gunnison. It's conveniently located along US 50 but is very quiet. These are all no-hookup sites with lake views. There are pit toilets and water is available at taps. The cost is $6 or $3 with Senior Pass.

Our site at Stevens Creek BLM Campground.

Blue Mesa Reservoir from our camp site.

We head south from Gunnison on Hwy 149 toward Lake Valley, Creede and the head waters of the Rio Grande. On the way we side track ourselves to look for the 6 J’s Guest Ranch Jim and his family stayed at for several summers when he was a kid. The resort is now called the Powder Horn Guest Ranch. It's currently closed and up for sale. What a great business it could be for someone with a passion for the "way-out-there" and the money and marketing to make it work again. See the previous post for more photos of the guest ranch.

The main building at the Powder Horn Guest Ranch, formally the 6J's.

One of the rustic guest cabins.

The entry sign.

A scenic drive along Hwy 149 from Gunnison to Lake City.

Aspen are golden and fall weather comes to the high country of southwest Colorado near Lake City.

An old barn with a new red roof in Lake City.

We intended to camp at the Rio Grande Reservoir but rain and muddy roads kept us moving onto Creede. In the La Garita Wilderness north of Creed was we had our second backpacking date and decided to get married those many years ago in the 1970’s. There’s a little romance in coming back here and memories of the spectacular places we hiked in the mountains above Creede. 

The streets of Creede haven't changed much and it's still a sweet little town.

Creede has kept it's historic personality, isn't over developed, and has nice shops, pubs and restaurants. It's in a high basin surrounded by mountains that the Rio Grande River flows through. What a wonderful place to spend time. There are primitive forest campgrounds and private RV parks. Forest roads and hiking trails wander high into the mountains and the river offers world class fishing.

Historic buildings are renovated and continue to serve. 

Not every day is rainy in Creede.

It keeps raining, the forest service campgrounds are already closed and the roads are too muddy to get off on to boon dock so we end our long days drive by going on to Durango to spend the night at the Durango KOA and visit the owners, our longtime friends Jay and Carol, fine people who have put a lot of work into making a great campground with all the services, amenities and hospitality. A great place to stay when visiting Durango.

Our journey continues in our next post as we travel through Utah.
Until next time.
Jackie