Durango's Alpine Glow

     My weekend visit to Durango has me glowing with admiration. I've been camping at the La Plata County Fairgrounds located downtown Durango and waking up to an alpine glow.

     Durango is a little town, its' population is only about 20,000 people, but it has numerous top-notch, impressive amenities. Consider the fairgrounds for example, there's space for six RVs (electric, water but no sewage connection and no pull-throughs). Notice that three of the six sites have Class B's in photo below? There's a Ford (from Utah) to the right, in the middle is a Sprinter (fulltimers of three years who's "very large" motorhome is at the shop, they tow the Sprinter), and me on the left. A hop and skip away is an excellent recreation center with an indoor heated lap pool (from 5:30 to 10 AM they offer current, vortex, and warm lap lanes which is unheard of elsewhere!) and separate pools for kiddies. Ms. Sprinter (fulltime RVer) agrees this rec center is one of the best in the USA.

     To the north of me, about 30 yards away, are two large ball fields with impressive lighting systems, and 70 yards behind me are an arena and barn for livestock shows.

The red spot shows where I camped.

     All this for a county population of only 55,000 people? And if its man-made amenities aren't enough, there's the gift of its best amenity, a natural one, the Animas River.

     Along side the river is the paved "Animas River Trail" which is popular among bicyclists, dog-walkers, strollers and commuters.

Ladies' day out; walking a baby-stroller and two dogs.

This couple stopped at a riverside patio for beverages. Everyone on the trail was very friendly.

Some folks come to the trail just to read.

Some folks come to hang a hammock and read a book by the sound of the river's gentle rapids.

Some folks fly-fish.

Some go rafting on the river.

Center of photo shows another raft.

This river has a Class II - III designation.

     Further down the river is a challenging spot. That "surfer" found a sweet spot where he can stay stationery for about five minutes if he balances himself well.

There's even equipment to crank over the river for its annual slalom event.

     My bike ride on the Animas River Trail was about five miles down the river. They spared no expense in building this path.

This is a long concrete downhill bridge with an overlook; mucho bucks!

A squirrel posed for me.

A mule deer buck posed for me too.

But he was more interested in tasty new leafs.

A great-looking multi-housing complex along the riverbanks.

Wonderful outcroppings.

A swanky playground!

Near the playground, an assortment of chimes to play.

The view at the end of the trail . . .

Couldn't decide which photo to use here, so I'm posting both!

     Back in the town of Durango, I stopped along the river trail to admire the city's skate park. Bicyclists and skateboarders were doing acrobatic twists and flips.

And there's a bandstand of course! apparently well-used too.

And a fish hatchery.

     The local 4-H Horse Club held events at the arena behind my campsite this weekend. It was mostly teen girls.

     They had several competitive events. One event, lope over close to the barrel with a flag on top, the rider picks up the flag, lopes to another barrel, and puts the flag in the bucket. It's an easy thing to do if the horse understands what the rider wants to do . . . this horse didn't understand and it's the rider's fault.

This horse understood, but it didn't want near that crazy flapping flag!

There was the traditional barrel racing, too.

For an explanation of Durango's history and how it got its name, click here.