Its almost Boo! time...

The calendar says its only late August, but the kids are all back in their sometimes air conditioned schools, the Labor Day Holiday weekend is upon us, and the stores are already sporting their Halloween merchandise so I guess Summer must be coming to a close. Only sixty or so days until the big BOO Spectacular when my neck of the prairie can see its first snow yet the temps across the country are still setting record highs and yesterday when I was out mowing the lawn (who's seasonal awareness isn't great) it felt downright hot. Only mad dogs, Englishmen, and idiots like me are out in 96 degree heat but my grass keeps growing so I keep mowing.

We were just up in the central Colorado mountains near Leadville and nighttime temps are creeping down into the 30's though I haven't seen any film of ice yet on the dogs outside water bowl. Three weeks ago we spent 10 days in South Fork, Colorado which is where Texans and Oklahomans flock to beat their sizzling summer heat. Not sure how that worked out this year as sizzling is still the adjective of choice for the temps we experienced while there. South Fork is closer to Santa Fe, New Mexico than Denver so for front rangers like my wife and I its quite the jaunt to get to explore a part of our home State that we don't often visit. What a real treat it was to see some new country and hear some new accents, y'all. And despite Colorado's ongoing love/hate relationship with Texas its citizenry overall appears to be rather nice and well, just friendly. Which makes sense I guess since the Texas State motto is Friendship. And for you Trivia lovers out there here's something new to add to your trivia collection: Texas adopted Friendship as the State Motto in 1930 and according to Ms. Google was most likely chosen because the name of Texas or Tejas was the Spanish pronunciation of the local Indian tribe's word 'teyshas' meaning friends or allies. And lest I leave out our good friends from the Sooner State, Oklahoma's Motto is "Labor Omnia Vincit": 'Steady work overcame all things'. I guess if I had my druthers, in this season of political sensitivity, I'd lean toward Friendship but to each State their own. 

Some of the original rail bikes...

While in South Fork, when we weren't brushing up on trivia, we did try some new things that we had not done before. One of these was Railbiking which puts you in modern, lightweight aluminum rail vehicles that you can then easily pedal down the tracks of abandoned rail lines. The company we railbiked with, Revolution Rail Co., operates railbiking opportunities in several States.  Railbiking was not only truly easy to do but it was a heckuva lot of fun. While new to my better half and I, railbiking has been around since almost as long as there have been,,, well you know, railroads. Those original railbikes looked much like... well you know, a regular bicycle, but with special attachments to fit on rails, They look a little sketchy if you ask me, nothing like the comfortable, and did I mention easy?, conveyance we rode in South Fork. The railbike tour was at our own pace and each person can pedal at whatever speed they desire. Heck, you can even stop pedaling entirely and let your fellow pedalers do all the work. Not that that's what I did. Not at all. You can see what our railbiking adventure looked like here:

South Fork offers lots of outdoor recreation to sample. We went paddleboarding on Big Meadows reservoir, did some regular mountain biking, and spent a relaxing day up the road in Creede, Colorado. In Creede we drove the famous (infamous?) Bachelor Loop, a historic 17 mile drive through the mining district above the town. Beware: the East part of the drive features a steep (very, very steep) four-wheel drive road not really suitable for regular cars. I of course didn't know that at the time I was coming

Creede's Bachelor Loop

down this (very, very) steep road having done the loop in a clockwise direction and I was glad to be in a 4WD pickup. Lets just say, if its pouring rain and the dirt roads start getting a little slick, you won't be going up or down this particular section, at least not by choice. Its a beautiful drive though and we eventually made it safely back into town so perhaps it was worth the white knuckles.

Creede's main street features eclectic shops and restaurants and is only about a half-hour drive from South Fork. From Creede you can continue west over Slumgullion Pass (11,530 ft.) to Lake City and beyond but that's worth a whole trip in itself. 

Given the hot temps while we were there, we spent as much time on the water as possible. Our railbiking outing offered a bike and raft combo package so we also were able to raft the placid (given that it was late July) waters of the Rio Grande river. In Spring and early Summer I'm sure the water flows a lot faster and offers some whitewater thrills but our trip was one of the last for the season due to falling water levels. Still, a nice float down a beautiful river beats a good day at work so who were we to argue? Here's a sampling of our Rio Grande experience...

South Fork, Colorado is a gateway town to other areas to explore. Drive just outside of town to the south and you'll climb Wolf Creek Pass which I've biked over several times thanks to now-gone events like Ride the Rockies. Once over the Pass you'll arrive in Pagosa Springs where you'll find, among other things, one of the southwest's great Frozen Yogurt shops, PS Froyos. On yet another 100 degree day it really hit the spot. 

Having spent time in Pagosa Springs before we were looking for the road less traveled and found it further south out of town when we came upon Chimney Rocks National Monument. CRNP features the ancient homes and buildings of the Ancestral Puebloans who were associated with the folks living 100 miles south in Chaco Canyon. 1,000 years ago people built homes and Kivas, grew crops and raised families in this area. The half-mile walk to the top brings you not only to where you'll see the ruins but also spectacular views all around. On the afternoon we were there we had the ruins, and the well-informed interpretative guide, all to ourselves. The road less traveled doesn't get much less crowded than that. See some of Chimney Rock and our other excursions around South Fork here:

I know this blog has morphed into something longer than intended and for that I apologize. I hope your Summer has been as chock full of things seen and done as ours has. If not, there's still time. According to the calendar Fall doesn't begin until September 23rd so there's time to get out there and enjoy that still sizzling heat. Hot dogs anyone?