Views of Valleys…

It’s January in Colorado and I’m at an elevation of over 8,000' feet.  It’s nighttime and dark but for the light of the stars. The moon has yet to rise.  I exercised my clothing optional option and quickly dipped into a hot spring pond to cover myself in warm water. The “waterfall pond” is smallish and as I move further in, I’m startled to realize there’s a man in the water sitting at a distance but under the waterfall.  I’m surprised because I made something of a racket arriving at the pond and I thought he would have announced himself.  This was my first night at Valley View Hot Springs. 

In addition to the option to go clothing-less, the setting was also very natural. There are several ponds and all are actual ponds complete with rocks and algae. The thin film of detritus stirs as you settle in to the mostly subtle rocks and pebbles of the pond bottom. It is fantastic!

The views are truly wonderful. It was possible to watch the sunset from the “soaking pond”:

And from one of the top ponds, you can gaze over the valley and the Sangre de Cristo mountains as you lay flat propped on your elbows with just your head sticking out of the water. Here is one of the top ponds:

A nighttime dip is a must – especially in the top pond, which is also the warmest natural pond. There are no lights. The night sky view stretches from the western horizon to just overhead and is so bright and clear.  It’s magical to sit in the warm spring with the twinkling stars above and bubbles all around you from the water seeping up from the ground.

From the main Valley View lodging area there is a hiking trail to the bat cave or the Orient Mine town site.  The hike to the bat cave has sweeping views of the valley and a cool cave system, which you can partially see but is separated from you by a chasm (and a fence). It’s worth the hike up.

On the hike up there was an interesting sight – the carcass of a deer. There were a few bits around the trail but this was the biggest part.  It must have been recently taken down. Not exactly sure why it’s so fascinating to see stuff like this but I really can’t help looking.  Not something you see everyday…

Speaking of dead things, the Orient Mine is sealed but there is this eerie sign nearby that reminds you that six people died in the mine and that their ghosts are in the tunnel.

After two nights and two days at the hot springs (and two stops at Amica’s in Salida!), I’ve returned home feeling relaxed and lucky to live in Colorado and be able to see stuff like this. 

Yurt weekend

My love affair with Colorado lives on and the flame isn’t close to going out.  A few weekends ago a friend and I ditched our thoughts of camping for a much more leisurely weekend – at Joyful Journey hot springs!
The weather was AMAZING.  Blue skies and pleasant clouds the entire drive down:

Although Joyful Journey has actual rooms, we opted for a yurt! You can see more beautiful weather and a yurt (far left) below.  This was the view from the doorway of the yurt. A yurt is like a hotel room but with no bathroom and no climate control (other than fans).  There is a skylight and a wood floor and a queen-sized bed and other hotel room amenities. Some nicer yurts actually have little kitchens but not here, which was fine.

Happily, there was nothing to do but eat, drink, sleep, read, and soak.  Here’s me, post-soak.

It wasn’t all candy and puppies though, there were little biting gnats that ate me up.  I got one (or more) trapped under my hair on the back of my neck and had a patch of red, itchy bites. That didn’t deter us from an outdoor breakfast though. 

Here’s my breakfast mate, Altan.

This is me, excited for breakfast:

Here’s the hazy sunrise from the door of our yurt:

Sunday we slowly made our way back north to Denver.  Stopped in Salida for breakfast and in South Park to check out its little old town area.
One of Salida’s many art galleries had a flock of needle-felted sheep in its window, which was so cute I had to document and, of course, share:

That is all.

Hot Springs with Buena Vista

My legs are resting on the edge of the pool, I’ve got two pool noodles supporting my back and arms, the sunlight is getting stronger as it comes over the San Juans, all I can hear are birds making their morning calls, and I’m just floating.  This was me at Joyful Journey hot springs for two and a half days.

Sometimes that serene moment was punctuated by the conversation of couples.  Being alone on vacation you get to overhear lots of (mostly boring) conversation between couples.  At night, however, the couples conversations can be silly and giggly.  Given that I’m steeped in thoughts about human relationships, these conversations were fascinating – even the boring ones.

I mean, what did/do I talk about as a couple? Outside of the occasional discussion about current political activity or random zombie conversations, couple conversations can be pretty mundane – what we are doing later, when should we take the cat to the vet or take the car in to have the oil changed, we should try this or that restaurant, and on and on.

Anyway, other than eavesdropping while soaking in the hot springs, I mostly read and slept, which was heavenly.  Here’s a typical shot of those days:

After emerging from the hot springs experience, I met Trisha in Buena Vista.  She ran a 25-mile trail run!  I know there are lots of people who do this, but I’m still in awe.

In the afternoon after the run, we made it a goal to visit as many patios in Buena Vista as possible.  The first of these was Mother’s Bistro. This is Trisha on the patio:

The patio was complete with a cat named Simba that circled my chair and let me pet it:

We both had glasses of white wine and shared a piece of caramel apple pie.  It was soooo nice.

When the sun started to set we made our way back to the Topaz Lodge and got to watch the sunset as we walked.

It was a lovely weekend and a good first solo trip for me.  I’ll definitely do it again.