Fall Colors in Pagosa Springs
We had 2 routes to get to Pagosa Springs and we opted against Wolf Pass after the internet scared Desiree. We headed south instead, to the pass-through Chama, but of course, needed to get over the mountains. This pass was the highest we’ve done so far, just over 10,000 feet. It was the complete brilliance of all that fall in the Rockies has to offer, and the only other traffic on the road was cattle. We ran along on old train line and got to see the old steam engine coming over the mountain.
We stayed at Pagosa Riverside tucked right along the San Juan River. You could fish at the campground, either in the river or in the small pond. The front office sold nightcrawlers, so Aaron got the poles out and the kids started casting. That is until Aaron decided to move away from the fake sparkly bait (I’m sure this has a proper name) and bought some of the aforementioned worms. Apparently, this just would not do for my daughter. Tears. Huge crocodile tears. It wasn’t fair that we would be killing the worms; they deserved to live. We tried to reason as she is a very frank girl well aware of the food chain. For example, last week she watched a hawk catch a prairie dog and cheered the hawk on because they need to eat too. But even though fish eat worms she argued that a fish would not eat this worm. We would not actually catch anything. We were just having fun. Why should we drown a worm — a far more terrible death than being eaten alive — just for our own fun? And of course, she was right. So the $8 nightcrawlers were liberated in a near by bush. Probably quickly eaten by the abundance of gorgeous birds that frequented the campground but we don’t talk about that.
Pagosa Springs was an adorable little mountain town, great to spend the week in. We went for a bike ride on the boardwalk past the hot springs. I escaped the overbearing presence of being a home-schooling mom and went for a walk in the downtown district. I bought some hats.
We took a family adventure to Chimney Rock. This is a national heritage site that preserves and educates about the history of the indigenous people that used to live here. The hike to get to the main site was atop the crest of a mountain where the walk was single file. You could see the entire valley below and the peregrine falcon nests in the same rocks as the native Americans used to mark the passing of the years based on when the sun lined up in the middle of the natural structure.
One morning I was sitting at a picnic table on the lake reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM to the kids, part of our home school curriculum. Two parents and their child were on paddleboards in the pond and came by and invited the kids to try out the paddleboards. To my surprise BOTH my kids jumped at the chance. And even more surprising, both of them stayed on those paddleboards for over an hour, enjoying themselves with their new friend. Man, Wade loved being able to talk with another kid his age. Every once in a while they meet other kids at a campground and they’ll ride bikes, but it had been awhile. It was so kind that this family invited us into their world. We have been so happy with the spontaneous interactions and connections we’ve made during this crazy time, although. Not surprised to find out that campers are pretty friendly, fun people.
