Weminuche Wilderness, Trail 523 to Emerald Lake, CO

The trail took us through Granite Peaks Ranch, which undoubtedly took its name from the steep granite cliffs lining the valley.

We hiked about 3 miles into the valley and,

along the Los Pinos river. We met several backpackers trekking back from Little Emerald Lake, about 10 miles in. The fashionable way to backpack now is to have your dog carry a good portion of the load. A hiker told us that a healthy dog can carry 30 to 50 percent of its weight. That means that a 70-lb lab can carry 35 lbs. Not bad. Of course, if I had asked Yuki to carry a load, it would have amounted to max 4-6 lbs!

Vallecito Reservoir and Pine River Campground, CO

We decided to go camping in the San Juan Mountains, north of Bayfield (which is east of Durango and west of Pagosa Springs.) From Bayfield, we drove up to Vallecito Reservoir, to find the huge reservoir about 3/4 empty and the mountain side burned. On the picture above you can see the vegetation starting to regrow. It was quite a desolate site.

A friendly visitor at camp, looking for lunch...

The campsite had only 4 sites, and was in some disrepair. The site just across from us was trashed. Jim and I used our only large garbage bag to go clean up. And we collected all the beer bottles and lined them up in the fire ring. When the camp host came by the next day, he took the stuffed garbage bag and said that he and his wife had handed in their resignation because they were tired of cleaning up after people. The campground is used more as a departure point for backpackers. I counted 17 cars in the parking lot, not counting the horse trailers. When it comes to the weather, sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. This time it started raining as I was preparing dinner and it rained steadily for most of the night. The next day, it started raining again during our hike. So we took off and went to soak in the hot springs at Pagosa Springs.

It was horses and riders paradise...