Walking Among the Aspens, The Path Less Traveled

Turning north again, we wanted to re-visit the Sand Dunes since our stay was so short on our last trip.  We wanted to go back in time to re-visit Crestone, CO from 1998 (on the first and original Gypsy trip we took) before we landed in Aguilar, CO.

The campground is before entering Crestone: on the plains with no trees higher than 5′ and darn few of those, therefore there is no break from the unrelenting winds.   The landscape left lots to be desired with weeds everywhere, sites were not level and the bath/shower room was locked with weeds barring the entrance. We unhooked the RV (foolishly)  and went to the office to pay our fee, we thought one night won’t hurt.  Shockingly, they wanted $45 for one night!  That was the most money for a site we have encountered thus far.  Needless to say, we went and hooked Rosalita back up to Gypsy and returned to San Luis Lake State Park for the night.

Although the San Luis campground does not have trees, it is very well maintained with clean open bath/shower rooms, no weeds within the campsites, and level sites.  It is also very quiet at night AND we had a lakeside site, or at least a fabulous view of the lake.  We settled in for a couple of days.

The next day we took a trip to the Dunes and we were lucky to have the perfect day; there was no wind.  I have been to the Dunes several times before and the wind has always been blowing sand around.  It was so nice to be able to take my camera out and take a few pics, we even had a picnic right beside the dunes.  You can’t do that in a dunes wind-storm!

We had also lucked out with the timing, it was peak  for the Aspens!  I wanted to hike up to Zapata Falls which was a couple of miles up the road.  To get to the trailhead it is 3 1/2 miles up a gravel, washboarded, zig-zaggy road.  The hike to the falls is about 1 mile and fairly mellow.  The water was flowing  this late in the year, I guess it actually runs most of the year.  It is two tiered and rushing with some nice force.  At the falls was a sign for S Zapata Lake, 4 miles further on.  Tomorrow, the lake!

The next morning I was on the trail by 8:15am.  It was delicious to walk up the trail in the early morning; the smell of pines, the early morning feel of dew on my skin, and the supreme silence of nature.  It wasn’t too long before I entered the palace of the Aspens: peaked and primed for me alone. The only sounds were an occasional bird, chipmunks scurrying across the trail, squirrels racing up trees, and a breeze quaking the aspens.  Around one bend, I did send about 8 mountain goats running for safer pastures.

The peaked aspens looked like God painted them herself.  The orange, the gold, and the red aspens shone like glass against the deep ocean-blue sky showcased by the late morning light.  Aspens were everywhere; on the hillsides, in the valley below, and just below timberline, co-existing peacefully among the blue-green evergreens.  At one point the trail was littered with aspen leaves thrown down by the wind.

Now, I must say, I haven’t hiked 4 mountain miles at one time in a long while.  Actually, it is 5 miles because the trailhead for the lake is at Zapata Falls, which is 1 mile from the parking lot already (round-trip 10 miles!).  On the way up the trail is 90% UPHILL, which I prefer because that means it is 90% DOWNHILL on the way back when one is tired.  It was a moderate trail, in terms of difficulty.  I don’t know about you, but for me I have no idea how long it takes me to hike a mile; turns out it takes a lot longer than I thought!!!  Surely, I thought, I had walked at least 6 miles but still no lake, what’s up with that…   Sorry to say, I did not make the lake on this try, I probably came within a block of the lake, oh well.  So sorry no pics of Zapata Lake… Stay tuned for the next trip up to Zapata Lake.

I was so glad that I made the effort to hike to the lake!  I found I had more stamina than I thought, so with some due-diligence, I should be able to do the trek all the way to the lake next time.