Durango, CO

October 11
A cool and drizzly morning - I contemplated getting in an easy run, but why not wait until we head south to nicer weather? One 'problem' with this trip is we can be wimpy/lazy if we don't have nice weather or trails and just go somewhere else. So after a little relaxing, we started the drive to Durango. We ended up finishing an audiobook, All Quiet on the Western Front. I'm not sure what I think of listening to a book. At least during this one, I was distracted with scenery or where we were heading next and didn't listen to a lot of it, though I think I would have liked reading it. We have listened to some podcasts during longer drives too though, and I seem to be able to pay attention to those. So anyhow, plenty of distracting scenery as we traveled through Wolf Creek Pass, we even stopped at a scenic overlook on the way down - just couldn't pass it up!

We found a spot to camp a little west of Durango, and I squeezed in a late afternoon run up Rocky Canyon Trail and Rudy did some hiking in the area. A nice, wide trail with plenty of loose rocks and essentially climbing up for half and hour, then coming back down - I liked it! Dinner was lentils and red rice, and entertainment was American History X. Neither of us thought we had seen it, but by the end, decided we had, just a long time ago, so practically watched a new movie.

October 12
Being parked in a little valley, the sun took a while to get to us! I motivated for a morning run on the dirt road regardless - another up and down, just not as steep as the last one!  I think Rudy just worked on a puzzle while I was out, is he getting addicted to puzzles too? Late morning we got into Durango to meet with Sam, a Duluth friend going to Fort Lewis College, at Horse Gulch trailhead. The guys got in a good, technical ride, while I stuck with mostly easier trails - I did manage to find some challenges though!
 
A pretty nice system of trails there. After biking and chatting, we left town kind of late and ended up on a somewhat nasty road to our camp prospect in the dark, and ended up just parking on the side of the road before it got too ugly - just sleeping anyhow! We made some quick shells and cheese with jalapenos, and only read before bedtime.

October 13
Returned to town for some longer outings. We met Sam at Horse Gulch again, but the guys made their way further west and I got in a run further east. I ended up not paying sufficient attention to time and where I was going and was out over an hour longer than intended. I felt pretty tired/hot/crabby by the end, but I guess it was still good training - for adversity? And there was plenty of nice scenery!

More mellow fall colors here

A cool slab of breccia on a trail I probably should have skipped

Of course, Rudy and Sam had nothing but fun! After their ride was wrapped up, we hung out a Sam's place for more chatting and were treated to some awesome blackberry angel food cake!! I failed to take a picture, but it was beautiful. We just made simple bean burritos, and enjoyed real showers! This was our fist night indoors on the trip - it was actually a little too warm for sleeping, but nice to not be waking up in the cold.

October 14
A relatively early morning as Sam and his roommate had early classes. Rudy and I hung around a little while longer and took advantage of cleaning up after breakfast and coffee with running water! The big chore for the morning was getting an oil change for the van. The shop figured it would be completed by noon, so we took a good stroll around town, stopping at some art galleries, sports stores, and book stores. A bit before noon, we walked by Himalayan Kitchen and both realized we were hungry. Despite feeling like we were spending too much lately, we went for the lunch buffet, and it was pretty fantastic!

Curries, saag, naan, mmmmm.....

We ended up back at the shop a bit after 1, but they hadn't even started on the oil change! They said 3 for sure, so we walked the couple blocks and to the Horse Gulch trailhead to hang out, reading and puzzling. When we returned a little after 3, the van was set. Rudy and Sam attempted to meet at another spot for biking, but Rudy soon realized the shop put too much oil in, so back to the shop. After all that, we ended up back at Horse Gulch - Rudy and Sam got in another ride, still on different trails, there are lots in Durango! I just hung out and did puzzles, figuring it wouldn't hurt to recover from my excessive run. Again we were a little Late getting out of town, but didn't go far before coming across Cherry Creek Road - close to the highway, but still a decent place to camp that wasn't full of people even on Friday. Since we had a big lunch, just some random snacking happened, along with watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - sadly not as entertaining as 15 years ago.