Our Next Stop- Bears Maybe? Sugarite Canyon State Park

As the July closes and August begins Norma’s check list of wildlife still had a bear on the list. We have seen this sign all over the cities we have visited but no bear sightings.

So we decided on a campsite in Raton, New Mexico at Sugarite Canyon State Park. We arrived and decided to go to the Soda Pocket Campground. After a two mile up the midpoint of the Bartlett Mesa we found the top sites on the point were full so settled on site 7. 

In the morning Norma and Mia enjoyed her coffee in the perfect 60 degree temperatures at the picnic table. Suddenly Craig heard Norma say something, is she  saying BEAR. YES, A BLACK BEAR! Norma grabbed Mia and Craig looked aout the window, yes a large black bear. Well no picture but we saw a black bear. We quickly let the camp host know and news quickly spread about the bear.

The other good news was a site opened up on the point (8000 ft elevation) and we quickly moved to site 21. Its views were perfect for us.  On one side the top of Barlett Mesa and if front of us the Little Horse Mesa and Johnson Mesa. In between the Mesa’s the town on Raton. The canyon was destroyed five years ago from a fire but is quickly coming back with a lot of wildlife and new growth but the trees bare and burned were a bit telling of the history. The state has really done a fabulous job restoring the campsite and the park. More details. 

We explored several hikes and the flowers were beautiful.

Also, above the lakes you can get access to Colorado back country!

Oh and the sunsets were awesome.

We also enjoyed visiting with the Rangers of the park. They were full of information and pointed out areas to view wild life through our binoculars. We spotted beautiful Elk with 7 and 8 points on the Mesa as well at wild turkey.  

Finally, every night the Black Bears were busy with the campsite. They explored the bear proof trash cans by toss them around and finally last night at 2:30 am a bear was found in the back of a pickup truck! Oh Boy, what fun! We have been lucky to meet numerous couples on RV adventures and enjoyed sharing stories! 

Trail Gone Bad or Good

We decided today we would find a new trail with wildlife and vista of the mountain we look at from our campsite.

We found a trail with us going through the meadows and then climbing to the top with vista views.

We found a trail marked for jeeps but found out the trail narrowed quickly. 

We noticed the trail was narrowing, the trees that had fallen were cut at a width to allow the jeep to pass. Further down the trail the width narrowed to allow UTV's. 

Craig has left the chainsaw at basecamp to allow Mia to have lots of room. So we ended up having to move the trees out of our way to allow us to pass though.

We found a few Bucks.

 Two bucks with in 50 ft of each other

 Then we saw this moose hiding behind the trees.

Visitors at Our Campsite

Amazing job by the sheep dogs and ranch hand on the horse! 

Uncompahgre National Forest Exploring

We are off to explore the area and Mia is ready.

 In the Uncompahgre National Forest they have setup a road system for most vehicles.which makes it easy to explore. Today we explored an area where the Alpine Guard Station is located. The main house is actively used today.

We stopped by the Big Blue  campgrounds in this area which has no services but great location for fishermen to fly fish in the river. 

The wildflowers are in full bloom. 

At the Big Blue Trail head was the a perfect place to hike a little to the river.  We are amazed at how perfect the meadows around the river. They are untouched and perfect. Also, fisherman love this area for fly fishing for trout. 

The Best Spot Ever!

Well after a beautiful drive we found the BEST PLACE EVER at 11,380 ft elevation in the Uncompahgre National Forest.

The Sheep Peak and Uncompahgre Peaks are the million dollar view from our View!

The sunrises and sunsets are magical. We are excited and blessed with this best campsite!

Bluebonnets fields everywhere no but these are Lupinus sericeus but look like the Texas Bluebonnet. 

Sunset are priceless! 

Another sunset! No fires! 

Exploring To Find A New Place!

We left Ouray and went north to visit Ridgeway and Montrose Colorado. The drive on 550 is awesome but we quickly went into the lower plains and the temperature went up.

Ridgeway is called the Gateway to the San Juan Mountain’s and I started to notice numerous ranches. Norma loved watching the horses graze in the fields. The downtown area was cute and offered numerous activities. 

Now Montrose, Colorado was not what we would expect. It was a large city with all the feel of home and we had to restock supplies and laundry of course. Oh and we had cell coverage to contact family so spent most of the day getting errands done. Wow, a Home Depot, Target! and a Starbucks! 

We began venture to our next stop, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The area was beautiful but the campsites were very small and very close to our neighbor. The park  reminding us of the Grand Canyon. We quickly decided to keep moving to Cimarron area.

We found an entrance turn off to the Curecanti National Recreation Area.  We stop for the night by a stream and moved to higher elevation in the morning.

Craig drove the RV and Norma followed in the jeep because we needed to climb to the mountain peak to cooler temperatures. We are not sure what we are going to do when we return to 100 degree temperatures in Texas.