Sunday, July 28, 2002
Grandview RV Park, South Fork, CO - July 22-28
We don't often mention "Moving Day", but this one took us over Wolf Creek Pass. The pull itself was not bad, but there was construction at the top -- a 4-mile stretch of jaw-jarring, dirt washboard. To make matters worse, a bicycle rally was going the other way. Most of the riders were on street bikes; a few were carrying their bikes over the terrain. On the way down, there was a delay where they were blasting a tunnel to widen the road. While we were stopped, our cats let us know in no uncertain terms that they thought this was a fine place to camp! There's not much to say about South Fork, in our opinion. 
It's where the South Fork of the Rio Grande meets up with the main branch. It's "on the way" to lots of gorgeous scenery further up CO149 towards Creede & Lake City. South Fork itself is just a highway junction with many, many large, crowded & unattractive RV parks. We enjoyed our stay because of the surrounding area & also because we met some interesting Escapee workampers. The woman was able to help Willie correct a knitting problem she has had for years & show her interesting new ideas for knitting socks.
We spent a day going to Monte Vista & Del Norte to visit local museums & the Monte Vista Natl Wildlife Refuge. We learned that this region is one of two major locations for Colorado potatoes & actually saw the Colorado Potato Administrative Council building!!
We spent two days up in the Creede area. For one thing, a shop in Creede has the best fudge we have ever tasted! The first day were were there we took a walking tour of the town of Creede, followed by a driving tour (called the Bachelor Loop -- named for a ghost town along the route, not the marital status of the miners!) of the old mining areas above Creede. 
We saw many buildings that were built in the late 19th century. A lot of the old mining buildings were still standing. The second day, we went further towards Lake City from Creede & saw North & South Clear Creek Falls. Despite the drought, there was lots of water coming down. 
At South Falls, we could walk down to the base, sit on rocks & enjoy the cool refreshing spray. There were even a few wildflowers. We found some beautiful camping areas for future reference.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 5:08 PM 
