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Today we drove the rest of the way from La Junta, CO to Mesa Verde National Park - 348 miles.
The drive today on Route 160 was just spectacular. For one I am glad we did not drive to Walsenburg the evening before. I thought the Rockies ascend would start after that point but not so, the road from La Junta to Walsenburg begins the upward climb and although not terrible the curves also begin. Its much easier to drive that kind of terrain in daylight.
On the way we drove through the San Juan National Forest - what a view of lush green pines standing tall as though reaching for the skies. The scenery was magnificent. We crossed two mountain passes. I got us through La Veta pass which we climbed from ~5K feet in elevation to 9K feet and back down to 7K feet. On our way we saw the Spanish peaks (picture attached to this blog). We reached the San Juan Valley and took a small detour to a point of interest where we got off to gawk at Mount Blanca which stands at 14, 345 ft tall.
After that Gil got us through Wolf Creek pass which rises to an elevation of 10, 857 ft. We passed signs for a couple of other National Parks or Recreation areas and about an hour before arriving at Mesa Verde we were able to get a look at Chimney Rock National Monument which stands 315 ft tall on the top of the mountain.
We arrived late afternoon and after dinner at the cafe by the visitor center we found our way to our site and hooked up the RV for the night. I am blogging while others are using the shower and once done its early enough we are going to turn on a movie and play some cards.
Tomorrow we will drive to the sites within Mesa Verde NP, I have high hopes for bear sighting in this area.
By the way - did you notice I said I got us through Veta Pass? Yes, I do drive the RV. I have driven this one from day one (I did not drive our other RV until 4 years after we bought it and the innagurational drive was in the middle of Chicago on our way to Oshkosh). I still leave all the backing up to Gil while I spot him - he does a great job and does not need my help most of the time, but don't tell him that!
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