A Trip to Remember: Day Five

By morning, the was a cool 78° and I had to pry the kids out of bed at 9am.

 We made quick work of eating a light breakfast and packing our things once again. We stopped at the campground store as we were leaving and put eight quarters into a shower, which bought us 15 minutes of refreshing water. 

After a quick pit stop in town for coffee and ice for the cooler, we headed back east along the Arizona/Utah border. Our next destination was Four Corners Monument, which I have been wanting to visit since I was in elementary school. Imagine my disappointment when we pulled up and they were charging $5 per person just to stand in that spot! No, thank you! I didn’t think it was worth 35 bucks and I was sorely disappointed. Instead, we stood outside, along with many others and pretended as best we could. 

We headed east toward Colorado, and tried to find a campground for the night in between large areas of no cell service. Jason called several places in several different towns and they were all fully booked! We were getting a little nervous as we continued north, but then we finally found one with room for our little tribe, just a little further down the road.

After fueling up and leaving Durango, we started looking for a little spot to have a picnic lunch when we stumbled upon Bayfield Riverside Park. The temperature here was in the upper 70’s-a nice treat from the steamy heat of the last few days-and there was a little brook running through the picnic area! We were immediately in the water, looking for crawdads with some other vacationers, and balancing on the slippery rocks. We had been waiting to do this in Colorado and it was a great little break from the car!  

The kids waded through the water and munched on sandwiches and snacks. The little park had literally popped up on the side of nowhere and it was so much fun. 

We pulled into Aspen Ridge RV Park in South Fork, Colorado just before 5pm and were greeted by friendly faces and rain! It ended up being just a quick little squall and soon enough we were setting up camp. On either side of us and throughout the park were nothing but huge motor homes, mostly from Texas. They were all there for the summer and we were thankful they shared a little space for us as we passed through.  

Our tiny camper among giants.

After the kids were settled and happily hooked up to WiFi, Jason and I headed for the hills. Well, actually, a small mountain nearby. I couldn’t wait any longer to get a trail run in, and up a mountain made it even more appealing. We parked our van at a tiny trailhead and headed into the woods. 

The earlier rain had left, but the lingering clouds made the trail seem even darker, and there wasn't another soul to be seen. Less than a half mile in, the trail made a turn and went straight up. It was rocky and rooty and a little sandy, and we slowed down to a walk. A little further on, the ascent became more manageable and we ran as much as we could. We were getting higher and higher and my head was on constant swivel, scanning for bears. They were everywhere, right?  The higher we climbed, the more excited I got. What would the top loop like? Would it come to a point? Would the trail even go that far? 

A little bit further and the trees all but stopped. Here, right near the top of this little mountain was a large pasture filled with cows! I was not expecting that! How did they get up there?!  It was definitely a surprise and of course, Jason wanted to touch one. 

The trail went on just a bit further and then turned to go off in another direction down the mountain. We decided to just take in the views from the top and head back the way we had come. 

We definitely wanted to be off the mountain and back to our car before nightfall, and we flew down the mountain. It was a total blast and I was glad we had been able to sneak away for a bit to have some fun on our own. 

Once we got back to camp, I decided I needed to get some actual running in, so left the others to get dinner started and took off down the road. I only went a few miles out and back, but I got to run alongside the Rio Grande, which I thought was pretty darn cool. 

There was one big community fireplace here, but it didn’t look like the regulars used it for cooking.  There were about eight old men seated around the campfire and they looked like they'd probably been there most of the afternoon.  Retired and on vacation in Colorado for the summer in state-of-the-art campers, gathered around a campfire telling stories while the womenfolk knitted and quilted and gossiped in the clubhouse?  They were living their best life, I tell ya.  

We considered ordering pizza here, but after Jason made few calls, we realized the entire town strangely shut down at 7pm, and not even the party store around the corner was open.  With full hookups, we could take advantage of the electricity, so we pulled out the hot plate! We feasted on pancakes and bacon made by Greyson and took warm showers in their community building while the long-term campers played bingo and painted crafts at long tables. 

This was definitely a unique place! We kind of felt like guests in someone else’s home, but they seemed quite happy to have us there, even if it was only for one night. Before bed, I pulled out all of the sleeping bags and heavy blankets, as it was predicted to be in the low 50’s overnight. All of us were pretty excited that we weren't going to have to sweat ourselves to sleep for the first time on this entire trip.  We tucked ourselves in and again, were all asleep before 10pm.