Thursday, August 11, 2022

Left the weird little campground/trail head with truly amazing scenery at Pine River.  Went further east on Hwy 160.  We looked at and rejected too many campsites to count until we took the almost last site at Teal Campground which is north from Pagosa Springs.  Again the scenery is incredible.  Having studied the maps, I would say that this campground  is less than 10 miles from the Continental Divide.  We sit at 8290 feel elevation.  There are really high mountains on our northern horizon.  There is a pristine mountain lake to the east (Williams Creek Reservoir).  Immediately to our West is a lovely meadow with a split rail fence running through it.  Southward is wooded hillsides.  It pretty extraordinary.  I would say at the moment that nowhere else I’ve been beats Colorado in scenery.  I’ve never spent much time in this part of the state.  I’m learning that I have missed out.

Friday, August 12, 2022   Teal Campground

We walked down to the lake day-use area.  There are some trails along the lake front.  Saw two ducks swimming with a lot of baby ducks trailing them, a red-winged blackbird who perched on the tules and studied us, tipping his head side to side, and four little river otters who bobbed and dove and rolled onto their backs in the water.  As we walked closer, they all climbed onto the bank and looked back at us as they slowly made their way into a thicket.  I can’t say enough about how gorgeous it is here.  Just soothing and quiet and so many small things to notice and marvel at.  A sign near the lake proclaimed that snowmobiles were permissable only as they aided in ice fishing.  That opened a whole new image in my head and I pictured the stillness of the area deep in snow with a frozen lake..  Incredible.

We have had a rain shower around 1 pm each day we’ve been here.  Plays havoc with our solar power gathering, but it’s cozy waiting it out in the van.  We stash the camp chairs under the picnic table so they stay dry.

Saturday, August 13, 2022  Teal Campground, Colorado

Another day in paradise.  I feel like I am getting better adapted to the high altitude.  I don’t notice it as much as I used to.  I’ve also started using Sudafed for my post nasal drip and cough.  It’s a great improvement.  I’m planning to simmer a soup on the camp stove today using pork stew meat, onions, carrots, broth, and adding broccoli at the end.  We’ll have to get it finished before the 1pm rain storm.  Every morning we awaken to a cloudless blue sky.  As the morning progresses, big fluffy cumulus clouds glide in until the sky looks CROWDED, but not really overcast.  Then the clouds with dark bottoms become evident and the first rumbles of thunder roll in from the distance.  We ignore this until there is a sudden rumble and crash of nearby thunder and the wind before the storm rushes through the campground causing the trees to sway and add their own swishing sound.  Then we make haste and stow away things we’d like to keep dry.  As the first raindrops fall, we take cover too.  We have been in Colorado for 15 days and it has rained at some point on every one of those days.