Today was a short travel day. We had no problems breaking camp (except that we forgot to take a photo of our campsite). Because the road was so steep down the mountain, Carol drove the Explorer and I drove the motorhome. That would also allow her to stop to take a picture of the Mesa Verde sign. As it turned out, the sign was outside of the park at the bottom of the hill, so we could both get our pictures.
We found a turnoff just down the highway and turned our Explorer back into a toad. Then it was down the road to Cortez on the way to the Matterhorn Campground. Most of the trip followed the Dolores River. We saw some of the most beautiful cabins and ranches around. They were amazing! With all the flat land along the river, they had gorgeous lawns and trees.
We reached Matterhorn Campground a little before noon and found a great campsite with full hookups. The views of the mountains around the campground make this one of the better campgrounds we've ever stayed in. Full hookups in a Forest Service campground with amazing scenery makes this a campground to repeat. Unfortunately, we're seldom in the campsite, so we're not really taking advantage of the scenery.
After eating lunch, we headed off to explore the Dallas Divide area. Then, we hit the construction zone. We waited at least 30 minutes to get through the small construction zone. What a pain! That makes Matterhorn a much less desirable campground for this week because we'll always have to deal with the construction wait to get to our favorite places.
The lighting wasn't great at Dallas Divide but the sun was shining and there were clouds in the sky without any possibility of rain. We were glad to settle for that today.
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After shooting around Dallas Divide, we decided to try one of the county roads that leads back toward Mt. Sneffels. We were going to try West Dallas Creek Road (CR 9), but the driver behind us was following too closely. We decided to skip to Dallas Creek Road (CR 7) and give plenty of notice to the truck behind us. As soon as we made the turn, we realized this was the same road we took last time we were here. We even stopped the exact same places to shoot: aspens next to the road with the friendly cow and the sweeping turn leading to the Blue Lake Forest Service area. The meadow near the Blue Lake trailhead is one of the most beautiful you'll ever see. Mt. Sneffels and the surrounding peaks create the backdrop for the valley. We shared our wait for sunset with a couple from New Jersey who really seemed to be roughing it. In the end, we both had the same sunset results--nothing.
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Then it was the 40-mile drive back to camp in the dark; complete with another 30-minute delay at the construction site.
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