Southwestern Colorado (July 2020)

We had reservations for a morning Jeep tour into the la plata mountains, and an afternoon of rafting on the lower Animas river. The morning was cool but clear, and the ride up through the mountain roads to the summit, was reasonable even with the bumps, as the gravel road was mostly local granite. Our guide, jay, pointed out several ruins from the mining days, and we stopped at a number of scenic waterfalls on the way up. We returned, reaching town around noon, and had a short break for lunch, which we took at the “serious Texas bbq” restaurant nearby.

After lunch, we headed out onto the lower animas river, which was late in the season and low, but still pretty chilly. Our rafting trip went well, and we rode more or less through the entire town of Durango and on to the south. Unfortunately, our sunscreen was not quite up to the challenge, and we both got sunburnt knees and noses. On the way back from the river, a Jeep rear ended our bus, but neither party suffered any real damage.

After the ride, we went out fo dinner at a Mexican restaurant several blocks down from our hotel, which had decent margaritas which did a bit to dull the burning sensation of the sunburn.

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Day 1 of the Trip - Day 3 of the Trip