June 27 – July 2, 2020 – We made our way from Mancos to South Fork, CO and spent 5 nights in the South Fork Campground sitting right on the Rio Grande River. Our trip up and over Wolf Creek Pass was full of dark gray dead spruce trees, most like death by “spruce beetle”, similar to the pine beetle. In fact, I was surprised how much beetle kill we saw in the area.

We spent the next few days wandering around the mountains and valleys around Creede, heading east to experience the how the flat lands of Colorado transition to the Rocky Mountains near Montevista and then over to Great Sand Dunes NP.

Monday, June 29: Creede is an incredibly charming former mining town in south central CO that is a mecca for hiking, mountain biking and 4-wheeling. We pretty much avoided the actual town of Creede as we wanted to avoid the crowds (although it looks pretty quiet in my photo!) as we had been there before and wanted to wander around the area.

We took the Bachelor Loop drive out of Creede through that box canyon you see at the end of the town, which takes you through many mining ruins and even active mining areas. The brochure offered the Rat Creek/Willow Creek 4×4 trail for a little added adventure…thankfully, after a few really tight spots and a few discussions with trail runners and a family in an OHV (Off Highway Vehicle or side-by-side), we were able to turn around and return to the Bachelor Loop road.

We took a lovely hike off Trout Creek off one of the many valleys above Creede. Then headed up towards Lake City (didn’t go that far, we have been there) to see North Clear Creek Falls. Usually you are in the mountains when you see major waterfalls. Well, Niagara Falls is an exception and so is Clear Creek Falls. You are in a flat valley and then the river just drops about 100 feet. Quite spectacular and unexpected!