Durango, Red Mountain Pass, and the Million Dollar Highway

I decided to leave Basalt a couple days early so I could take a quick detour to visit Durango since I have never been there. The GPS in the van always sends me on the truck routes, which is completely unnecessary and, well, boring. If I have enough time that I don't have to burn up the highway to get to my next stop, I double check it with Google and pick whatever route looks like I will get a chance to see something other than than what's along the major freeways. Usually, this ends up being whatever route has the most squiggles. I'm either confident enough or stupid enough (opinions might vary there...) to believe that I have adequate equipment and competence to deal with whatever I run into (again, opinions might vary). More than once, this has resulted in high elevations I didn't really anticipate. Mike can tell you about Beartooth Pass. As was the case with my drive down to Durango. I took the Million Dollar Highway over Red Mountain Pass, elevation 11,000 ft. If you Google it, Dangerousroads.org will be the first listing. I didn't Google it.

I definitely got to see some stuff. Mostly 10mph hairpin turns, no shoulders, falling rocks, snow, ice, and 26 degrees. The drive took long enough that I didn't stop to take any more pictures after getting over the pass.

I stayed at Lightner Creek Campground, camplightnercreek.com, a private campground just outside of town. I would happily stay there again. Staff were very helpful and nice, the sites were relatively spacious and private, and facilities were well maintained. Camping fees were also comparable to state park campgrounds (at least during the off season). I didn't anticipate waking up to snow the next morning. I should have thought to remove my hose once I filled my tank. One of the trailers at another site had all their lines freeze. I'm thankful I went for the additional insulation. This was the first time I'd been out in temps below freezing.

At the recommendation of campground staff, I made a trip into town and visited the historic Strater Hotel, strater.com. It was a beautiful hotel. I had lunch at the Diamond Belle Saloon, an old west themed saloon complete with period dress and menu selections. I had the Green Chile Pork Stew and it was delicious. I hope to find a similar recipe I can adapt to my instant pot. Unfortunately, I could eat very little of it because I realized I had picked up a bug somewhere and started not to feel well, but I was really sad I couldn't eat any more of it. I headed back to the van and ended up taking a nap in the transit station parking lot. Dang, it's convenient to have my house wherever I am! After a nap, Litha and I found a park with easy access to the Animas River trail, had a walk, and took a few pictures before heading back to our campsite, where I experienced all that the bug I picked up had to offer. I had the opportunity to choose which holding tank to aim for... I'll save you all from the full details, unless I've already told you in person, of course. As you can imagine, we went to bed pretty early and headed out in the morning.