Our new home is in the Mancos Valley of the San Juan Mountains, located about halfway between Durango and Cortez.
We’re in the RV Park at Echo Basin Ranch,
and the scenery is spectacular!
We’ve learned now that these are Aspen trees (I thought they were Birch, with a greenish hue to the bark), and we love seeing the snow-capped mountains in the distance (although the snow is diminishing!), and hearing the creek flow through the campground.
We’ve been hanging out at the campground this week, getting acclimated to the elevation and working on some projects for work and school. Today we drove into Cortez to do some grocery shopping (we found a Kroger affiliate – City Market), and on the way we stopped at Mesa Verde to get some information on the tours and hiking trails available.
There’s a brand-new Visitor and Research Center,
so we stopped in to pick up some maps and information about the Park.
There are a couple of scenic drives, some hiking trails, and 3 Ranger-led tours available, so we’ll plan on a couple of visits while we’re in the area to see as much as we can.
We’re looking forward to visiting the cliff dwellings, and learning about the ancient people who made their homes here.
Ooooh! You're in one of favorite parts of the country! (Although, we do have a few!)
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to "get high"! :-) Good idea to give yourselves time to acclimate. Drink GOBS of water!
We really enjoyed the hiking in Mesa Verde. And, City Markets are great. Cortez has a nice city park with a fun disc golf course. And, the train from Durango to Silverton is still on our "to-do" list. (We had to save something for next time!)
Enjoy!!!
that place does look beautiful. I have difficulty breathing at higher elevations... Im most comfortable below 4000 ft.
ReplyDeleteLoved Mesa Verde. The new Visitor's Center wasn't ready last spring when we were there...about this time, the week before Memorial Day!The aspens are beautiful trees, especially in the fall when they turn gold, but if I remember correctly you'll be gone before that. Enjoy your time there :-)!
ReplyDeleteWOW...looks like a wonderful place to spend some time. Hope the job turns out to be a good one!! Can't wait to see all the places you visit:o))
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