South Fork, CO 7-11 to 7-17

 

Little did we know when we booked our stay in South Fork that it was a tourist town.  With beautiful mountains, the headwaters of the Rio Grande close by and nearby Creede, CO there is just so much to do in this area!  An added benefit is that at over 8000 feet in elevation, the temperatures are nice and cool.  In mid-July, the highs were mostly in the 70's and the lows in the 50's!!

First on our list was to play the Rio Grande Club and Resort.  It is a beautiful golf course with some of the holes playing right beside the river!

Just a few "we were there" photos.  In the photo with me teeing off you can see the flag on the other side of the river!

Surprisingly there are not a lot of restaurants in South Fork so we drove 16 miles to Del Norte to the Colorado Grille & Tap House.  We enjoyed a beer flight and split a huge Dr. Pepper Brisket quesadilla (smoked brisket, shredded cheddar, bourbon, onion and Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce).  It was delicious and we took home another meal!

We journeyed up the mountain to nearby Wolk Creek Ski Area.  As you can see from the Garmin it in pretty high elevation when nearby we were at 10,826 feet.  We heard from an employee that the slopes open as early as Halloween!  They have 10 chair lifts, 70+ skiable trails, 1604 ft vertical drop and 430+ inches of snow!!

Creede is only about 30 minutes away.  We went to the Creede Repertory Theater to see "Always ...Patsy Cline."  It is a musical that tells the true story of Louise, who befriended Patsy Cline.  The story is based on letters shared by Patsy and Louise.  There are all kinds of neat shops and restaurants lining the streets of Creede.  Nicholas Creede discovered rich veins of ore in 1889 and by 1892 millions of dollars of silver were pulled from the ground.  There is a reconstructed mine you can tour.  The headwaters of the Rio Grande are nearby.

South Fork does not disappoint as a tourist area with Revolution Rail providing some fun activities.  We signed up for the Pedal and Paddle.  It's a 5-mile pedal on these recumbent type bikes that ride along the railroad tracks.

They pick you up at the end of the peddle section and take you down to the river to hop on a raft.  Our navigator, Kristin, did an excellent job of navigating by the rocks as the water level was quite low, and keeping us entertained through the winding river.

You can see by the rocks in the upper left how clear the water is. The house on the left has river rocks that were all removed from the river, and also has some beautiful stained-glass windows.  The bottom middle photo has rocks that were placed for the trout fisherman.  And the bottom right shows a peddle car that you can see as they pass by this section of the river.

It was a busy time in South Fork, but now it's time to head to our next stop: Montrose, Colorado