Arrival Thursday, July 30
294 Miles | 5.5 Hours
Trip notes: we get an early start and decide to stop for our Zoom workout and lunch in Durango, which is a scenic town with a great feel. Mari finds us a nice city park with a large play structure where Sibri meets several new friends and they play for hours while Datta & Mari catch up on their work in the “front” and “back” offices (i.e., the Audi and the Airstream, respectively).
We also notice multiple busloads of river rafters getting picked up from a beach landing right next to the playground and decide on a whim to call the rafting company using the number on the side of the bus. They’re operating at reduced capacity for social distancing but have just enough space to fit us on their final run of the day so we pile on the bus and head upstream for a late afternoon rafting excursion down the Animas River, were get a raft all to ourselves with a loquacious and amiable guide, who has just gotten married and settled down in Durango.
It’s a fun level 2 run which is great for Sibri's first rafting adventure. Our guide leads steers us through scenic gorges and beaches that lead into town. We also get a little rain shower plus a free can of beer tossed to us on our way downstream—nice! Towards the end of our excursion there are some man-made level 3 features that we get to play in before loading out.
We wrap up our visit with a lovely late lunch at a cafe called the Yellow Carrot where we are introduced to a savory pastry called "bronuts" before heading back into the hills our way to Pagosa Springs for a soak in one of our favorite places on earth at the springs.
We pull into Pagosa at sunset, not having a place to stay, but with every RV park in town booked to capacity. As dusk starts to fall we find a spot to park Gypsy at a nearby city park while we wait for a little under an hour to get in for a social distancing limited visit at The Hot Springs resort. They feature 24 different pools ranging from 98 to 112 degrees, set around a warm goldfish pond with a submerged wooden boardwalk and frontage along the San Juan River that flows through town with several submerged hot springs of its own where you can simultaneously cool your shorts while roasting your feet.
We manage to try out pretty much every pool before closing the place down at 10pm, and set off to find a late night place to camp knowing all the parks around town are filled to capacity. Mari spots a place on Campendium where we can dry camp, called the Ute Indian Reservations campground. It's about a half hour out of town, and slightly marked by an open steel gate opening off the highway to a gravel road off that would be easy to miss in the darkness and we almost do. Fortunately there is still a spot open and we manage to back into it in near pitch darkness under the trees, we level one side of the trailer to make up for the slope and stay on the bumper for the night.
Departure Friday, August 31 (Very early!)
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