Mammoth in Colorado Day 6

 Saturday 9/11

Road trip day. Pancakes for breakfast, which took a good bit of time. Then we went to the wildlife viewing area, not expecting to see anything, but just wanting to check it out. It was fantastic--a sturdy, well constructed overlook and bridge over the river that makes Navajo lake. (One of the rivers) The water is really low up here and scummed with bubbles on the surface that made a cool, ever-changing design when seen from above. Disgusting, but cool. I don't know if that's a natural phenomenon or if there's some phosphate dump into the water upstream, but it did make for a cool picture. Sorry I didn't take one.

No wildlife, of course, at 11-ish in the morning. We decided to come back next day.

Then off to Durango via the scenic route. We stopped at the fish hatchery but the indoor museum was closed. Saw about a hundred million little trout spinning around. Then we tried to stop at the downtown train museum but there was no chance of snagging a parking place. We should have just pulled into the first open meter, but truth be told, with temperatures in the low 90s we wouldn't have been able to leave the dogs in the Jeep anyway. So we skipped it.

Then up to Baker's Bridge, a historic bridge across the Animas river here. It was as gorgeous as it seemed.  I didn't know it at the time,  by it was where Paul Newman and Robert Redford jumped from a cliff into a river in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” At the bridge we had the honor of holding the car keys while a nutty guy somersaulted over the guardrail and hit the water below. It was a great stunt. Wish I'd watched. But I was too busy looking for birds on the north side of the bridge and missed all the action. I heard the splash, that was all.

We were traveling the route of the Durango-Silverton narrow Guage Railway and it was very beautiful, with hillsides bordering a  wide, wide valley,. At first we were driving right alongside the railroad, but then it took a turn and hugged the easternmost side of the valley while we snaked along the side of the mountains to the west. It was gorgeously beautiful--mountainsides were mostly a luminous red-maroon topped by a strata of pure white on top. No snow, of course--they weren't nearly tall enough for that. Even the tallest of the mountains in the far distant didn't have snow. It looked bare on top, though.  These mountains were mostly covered with trees to the top, but being a dry climate, the trees were somewhat separated and let the bones of the earth show through.

We went just a little farther, up to Haviland Lake Campground. It was pretty but not all that special.  Then back to Durango for a quick stop in the Walmart. We didn't need anything but I wanted to get a beef bone for poor Molly, who is bored out of her wits. So many people are letting their dogs run loose in this park that we've had to keep her in the motorhome for periods of time when we would normally have her with us.

When we returned, I had Ed let me out at the park entrance and I gave her a 40-minute or so walk, all up, down and around the area. We returned to find out that the worst offender, the guy directly across from us who just let his two dogs roam freely, was gone.

Chimney Rock again. Everywhere I see it.