Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Day 24 of our 30-day Southwest Grand Circle Caravan – Travel from Mancos to Durango Colorado

Today we depart Mesa Verde RV Resort between Cortez and Mancos Colorado. The campground we are heading to have been very accommodating. There check-out time is noon, so the owner is calling our wagonmaster as sites are ready for us to occupy. 







There is a blind hill above the entrance / exit of our current campground. So, Charlie and I drove up the road to Mesa Verde National Park and stationed ourselves at the crest of that hill, so we could see what traffic was coming, to aid the people exiting the park. This was our view for the two hours we helped get people out of the campground.




The first group left Mesa Verde RV Resort at 9 am, with 8 RVs. The second group headed out at 9:30 am with 4 RVs. The third group left at 10 am with 6 RVs. The last group, including us, left at 11 am with the last 8 rigs.



The Hogan, is a souvenir shop that has a unique motif. Out front, telephone poles have been fit with giant arrowheads, and stuck into the ground at a 45 degree angle. In between them are several wigwams. The effect is that of a cascade of massive Indian arrows heaved at the business.



Mancos was the next town we came to. The RV resort we were staying at had a Mancos mailing address. Mancos was founded in 1894, though cattle ranchers had been settling the Mancos Valley since the 1870s. Before then, the area had been a part of New Spain and Mexico, and had been inhabited by the Ute and Navajo people. The name “Mancos” comes from the famous Dominguez-Escalante Expedition of 1776, though the reason for the name remains unclear. Somewhere in the town is the point at which the Expedition crossed the Rio Mancos on its way to California from Old Mexico. 

At the time it was founded, Mancos served as the primary commercial trading center for eastern Montezuma County. At that time, the City of Cortez, now the County seat, was barely a bend in the wagon trail. Mancos was a stop along the Denver, Rio Grande & Southern Railway, connecting to Durango to the east, and to the Telluride mining districts up north, via Dolores. Ranchers in the Mancos Valley provided beef, timber, and other agricultural products to the mining camps.
Mancos has unique metal signs in the shape of Colorado with a cut out of a cowboy on a horse. 

There nice murals in Manco too. Here are two we saw!



A cattle round up on the side of a liquor store ... should have been on a butcher shop!





US 160 is also known as the San Juan Skyway, between Cortez and Durango, Colorado. Durango is the largest city on San Juan Skyway. The San Juan Skyway is actually a loop you can travel. It would be nice to do it someday.













Most of the day, we traveled along the edge of San Juan National Forest. The forest covers almost two million acres in the southwestern corner of Colorado. The San Juan Forest covers ten counties of Colorado. As you start the climb upwards, one of the turns gives you a view of the beautiful La Plata County valley a lush green valley, surrounded by mountains of grey stone and forest.

We passed by a pull-in area for Escalante Wayside marker. Between August and December, 1776, Dominguez and Escalante and a small group of men attempted to find an overland route between the Spanish villages in New Mexico and the Spanish missions in California. The expedition crossed the La Plata River near what is now Hesperus. Although Dominguez and Escalante did not reach California, they are recognized as the first Europeans to traverse and map what is now central Utah and cross the mighty Colorado River northeast of the Grand Canyon. Members of the expedition walked or rode horses nearly two thousand miles as they explored a relatively unknown land. Throughout their journey they encountered a dozen native tribes, yet they never resorted to violence toward their fellow man.

We passed by Ski Hesperus, which is a winter haven for the skiers. Right now, it is an empty hillside with the empty lifts and all the snow making and grooming equipment sitting idle.

We passed side roads to Wildcat Canyon, Echo Basin and La Plata Canyon. All great places to do a little 4x4 adventuring … not this trip!




We passed over the Animas River, a couple of times near Durango. The Animas River is over a 100-mile-long and a tributary of the San Juan River, part of the Colorado River System. The Animas River is most famous for its mustard hue that triggered global headlines after last summer’s Gold King Mine spill. In August of 2015, about three million gallons of waste water spilled from the Gold King Mine after contractors hired by the Environmental Protection Agency were excavating an old mine drain that was filed with water. The waste was laden with more than 875,000 pounds of arsenic, cadmium, lead and other heavy metals. The Animas River is running clear now.

We skirted the edge of Durango and did not hit the historic district with 18 RVs in tow. We did pass a small "Mom & Pop" hotel with this funny sign. It was next to a brand new Fairfield Inn!

After Durango, we also crossed the Florida River. It is the closest we have been to home in one hundred days! 


The Florida River is a 60-mile-long tributary of the Animas River. The river's source is Lillie Lake in the Weminuche Wilderness. After being impounded by the Lemon Dam to form Lemon Reservoir about fifteen miles northeast of Durango, it joins the Animas River south of Durango on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation near the New Mexico state line. Florida is a name derived from Spanish meaning "little flower."



Following Route 160, the entire trip today, we arrived at Bayfield Riverside RV Resort, our home for the next two nights.

Stay tuned to hear all about Durango and Silverton!


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