Heading north

Sunday, May 21st

Left Durango after dumping the tanks at the Giant and hitting WalMart. We spent the night at a city park in Del Norte. You can camp there free for one night.

Monday.

Drove  to the O'Haver Lake FS campground just south of Poncha Springs. 9,200'. Had a hail storm then a drizzle. The weather forecast going forward is great.

Drove one of the many Jeep roads noting future disbursed sites. There are lots of them. I make note of the coordinates then forward the info. to our friend Ted, so he can add them to his Ultimate US Public Campground app.  That way, if I'm searching for one years from now, I just look in his app. that I have on my iWhatever. Works well for both of us.

The campground is very, very nice. A clear mountain lake. Fishing, swimming, kayaking, etc. Gopher  took a nice swim. The water was too cold even for the kids. The camp host said the place is typically  booked solid through the prime summer months. There are several walk-in sites.  We lucked out by getting there early in the week and have a lake view, pull-through site.

Memorial Day plus schools out, is upon us.

Through the woods. 

A stream behind our campsite

The view of O'Haver Lake

Tuesday the 23rd.

Woke up to 2" of snow this morning. At 9,200' I suppose its not that uncommon this late in May.

 Later on new drove the Poncha Creek Road and found some great disbursed camping for the future.

Along Poncha Creek

 Put up the hummingbird feeder.  Between the red camper, the red Jeep and the feeder, we really attract the birds. So far we've attracted the Black-chinned and Broad-tailed; both very common to this area.

We identified a pair of Chirping Sparrows, as well.

We went into Poncha Springs, a 20 minute drive, for lunch at the Hunger Wagon based on Yelp reviews. We split the pulled pork plate and a basket of onion rings, jalapeño corn fritters, green chilies, and a super dipping sauce. Excellent.

Wednesday.
Spoke to our neighbor who is a serious fisherman; been coming here for over 15 years. The lake is stocked with Rainbow Trout. In the deep water, he regularly catches trout in the 14"-16" range. He also said, that for the really prime sites, reservations well in advance are required.
I walked around and made notes for the future.
The best RV sites are 10, 22, and 32.
The best tent sites are 10,18-20(tent only sites), 23,30,31,32.

Drove most of the Marshall Pass Road today except to the very top where  the snow was still too deep. Found one great disbursed camping spot with a strong VZ signal. The access road is bumpy but not terrible and not very long.

O'Haver Lake from Marshall Pass Road.

Saw a dozen, or so,  mountain goats.

Tomorrow we're going to check out some disbursed camping in the area then decide whether to stay here for Memorial Day, or move on.