July in Tucson tends to be quite hot, 100º +. So Joyce and I decided to take the camper to the Pine and Spruce forest east of Durango, about 550 miles. The purpose of the trip was to review, first hand, public campgrounds (CGs), in particular, National Forest or Colorado State CGs for future camping. Our base (Blue Spruce CG) was near Vallecito Lake and the second CG (5 Branches) was on the shore of Vallecito Lake. The area is about 25 miles east of Durango. The short list, for future camping, was Miller Creek CG on Lemon Lake and Teal CG on Williams Creek Reservoir. We were in Colorado for twelve days.
We enjoyed the cooler temperatures and daytime showers. Our recon took us from the plateau (6000) up to 10, 875 on Middle Mountain where the wildflowers were in full bloom.
After southwestern Colorado, we stopped in Show Low, AZ for three nights to look that area over for future camping areas. We stayed in Fool’s Hollow SP.
The trip photo gallery has only a few scenery views and a couple of hummingbird pictures.
We arrived back to Tucson on Friday, July 17th to 108º F.