Chimney Rock

Chimney Rock

September 13

The next morning we headed over to Chimney Rock and signed up for the 2 1/2 hour tour of the indian ruins. The guide was extremely knowledgable (actually more information than I could absorb or wanted to know ) and the group small. The weather was fairly nice..no rain in the morning. If you decide to go on the tour I would take hiking sticks if you have them. There is some steep up and steep down on part of the tour which we were were warned about, but I got the impression it wasn’t bad. Well, it was OK for me but some other folks really had a difficult time with some of the terrain. My only other comment is that there was more standing than walking. I find it hard to stand for long periods of time.

Great house and Kiva

Milling room

Part of the great house under restoration

After our tour we headed back to the campground and prepared to head for South Fork. I needed to pick up mail that’s to be forwarded there. Also there are a few WINs that spend a great deal of time in South Fork in the summer and we are hoping they are still there. Going over Wolf Creek Pass on the way to South Fork was rough. Eight miles up going 30 mph was a killer. I wasn’t sure my rig would make it.

We got to South Fork and headed up towards the Palisades campground. It was raining heavily by then...what else is new.. and it was also hailing pretty badly. We got to the campground and found that although the campground was open the water had been shut off for winter. We later found out that most Forest Service campgrounds shut the water off the day after Labor Day but remain open until October 1. Due to the pouring rain, hail, and potential snow we turned around and back tracked 10 miles back to South Forth and stayed in the Grandview RV park. It was raining much heavier by this time. By the time we got parked, power and water hooked up the rain stopped! What a luxury... full hook ups, laundry, water....at a price, but worth it. There was also cell coverage and wi fi. I was able to catch up on correspondence, laundry, and phone calls.

Nancy called our WIN friend Judy and she was still in South Fork. True to a WIN and full time RVer she hadn’t decided where or when she was going next, but since we were in town she wasn’t moving on today. We met up with Judy and Andy, another WIN, and had dinner at the local spot. They told us they were going to go to the Rio Grande Reservoir the next day. We sort of invited ourselves to go with them. Judy was sure the aspen were starting to turn and was anxious to take the drive. She had been there earlier on her ATV and said it should be a nice drive. We agreed to meet in the morning at the Forest Service campground outside of town.