A Beautiful Trip!

 Thursday, we left Alamosa for a fairly short and beautiful drive to Chama, New Mexico.  We have been coming to this area off and on for probably 50 years.  Not only is it cooler here (almost 7900 ft altitude), but there is a tourist train pulled by old steam engines. Steam trains, and even diesel trains, are something we have  been interested in all of our married lives.

 We saw pine and fir trees, as well as aspen.

In places, we saw lots of wild flowers.

Then, we saw something exciting in the distance! Look carefully at the center left hand side of the photo.  Smoke!

As we approached the top of the pass, we saw the daily Cumbres and Toltec train.  We couldn't have timed it better if we had tried.

After the train stopped long enough for the passengers to take a few photos, it was off to it's lunch stop at Osier, 

The steam train is always followed by this small car--called a speeder--that checks to see that no fires start up in the wake of the train spewing smoke and cinders.  

Alamosa and Creede

 The past few days we have been enjoying Creede and Alamosa, Colorado.  We used to come to Alamosa to ride and Rio Grande Scenic Railroad trip up to LaVeta Pass.  The train was pulled by an old steam engine and a fun ride through scenic areas.  It has become one of the many casualties of the Corona virus pandemic.  The owners are looking for someone to buy the train cars and start the rides again.

This is pretty country.  

The highway follows the Rio Grande River much of the way.

On our way to Alamosa, we drove through Monte Vista. Sand Hill Cranes migrate through the San Luis Valley, which includes Alamosa.  About 20,000 cranes make a stop in the valley.  Monte Vista pays tribute to the cranes with a number of images of the birds on the main street.

Monday we drove to Creede.  The annual Woodcarvers Rendezvous was in progress.  I didn't take any photos there, but we did see interesting sights in the town of Creede.

We passed on old train station along the way. 

Creede is in a narrow canyon.  Shops line the main street and the carving show is held in the underground community center, located in old mine shafts.

Here is a scene in town showing a old home and yard.

This mural shows images of nearby scenery.

It was a fun excursion.

Today we drove to a trail near the golf course.  Along the way we saw these train cars.

There were several tiny houses in one place.  Don't know if the are individually owned, for rent, or displayed for sale.

I took a picture of this primrose along our trail.

And we enjoyed this peaceful view.

This was the only wildlife we saw.  The sign below warns of other critters but we didn't see any of them. 

 

Refuge hike

There are two National Wildlife Refuges near where we are parked, Alamosa and Monte Vista.  The entrance to the Alamosa refuge is right down the road.  Yesterday we drove there and hiked on a trail around the meadows and ponds.

The refuge contains 12,026 acres of land that support a variety of wildlife, including songbirds, water birds, raptors, deer, beavers, coyotes.  We certainly heard the songbirds and also saw some large birds.

The most common bird was the redwing blackbird.  They are so beautiful in flight.

This is  a view across the wetlands toward the mountains.  That may be Mount Blanca in the background.

It always amazes to see small birds chasing off larger ones.   It happens often when  the large bird tries to steal the eggs or baby birds from a nest.

This is some kind of heron. We watched it fly off as we approached.

In 2012 we volunteered at Santa Ana NWR on the southern border of Texas, along the Rio Grand River which divides the US and Mexico.  Now we are not far from the headwaters of the Rio Grand, which flows from the mountains of Colorado.  During our time at Santa Ana, we developed a real interest in the lands that are protected in these refuges.

Hiking Near the Sand Dunes

When we spend any time in Alamosa we are usually planning to ride the Rio Grande Scenic RR which goes from there to LaVeta and back. We didn't do that this year but the Great Sand Dunes National Park is right next door and we hadn't been there for years so we decided to go on a hike or two nearby.

First we tried the Zapata Falls National Recreation Area. The hike require 3 miles on a very rough road. Although we have owned 4-wheel drive trucks for years, that isn't to go on rough roads but because they have a better resale value in Colorado. This wasn't a jeep road--there were lots of passenger cars. But it was very rough. I drove it anyway, in our brand new truck. (It was so trying, I asked John to drive back down after the hike.)

This is what the road looks like, once you enter the Zapata Falls area.

The trail to the falls was rocky but a good, short 1/2 mile walk. When we reached the river, the water was high and fast.

The best way to view the falls is to wade in the water but there is also a bridge that gives you a view without getting wet. Looking at that water, I had no intention of wading up to the falls. Where is the bridge?

It looks like I might get stuck in this tree, trying to get up that close to the waterfall.

I did get through, reaching a point we could see these folks up ahead in the creek.

People coming back after wading to the falls said they were up to their knees in the cold, rushing water. Neither of us were interested so we never did see the falls. I stole the picture below from the National Park website. Really wish we could have seen it in person.

On our way back down from the trail head, we saw this truck and small trailer that apparently decided he didn't want to continue on to the campground that is next to the trail. We thought he had good sense.

On the 4th of July we hiked in the forested part of the Great Sand Dunes before taking a look at the dunes. We went on the Mosca Pass trail, turning around after about 2 miles. It took us through great high Colorado mountain terrain with aspen and conifer trees.  We went into the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness Area.

There was a small stream running along the trail.

When we finished that hike, we drove to the Visitor Center at the Great Sand Dunes.  We haven't been there for years and years, but we know we don't like walking the the sand.  Our first trip there was in the late 1970s with our sons Doug and Eric and nephew Craig.  At that time, the Medano Creek was running in front of the dunes.  We saw that again on the 4th. Just look at all those people! And if you look carefully at the line of people climbing up the sand ridge in the center of the photos, it almost looks like the Alaskan image of people on the Chilkoot Trail.

We had some good views of the sand dunes both days.