In my youth Wolf Creek was a monster pass at 10,800’, accessed by a narrow, steep, winding two lane highway and not even paved all the way. Near the top on the western side there were several switchbacks and one so sharp the long 18-wheelers had to pull forward off the road then back up while turning then go forward again to make it around the switchback. Sometimes the trucks would lose their brakes or lose control and tumble off the cliff for several hundred feet. Memory wants to say this happened on a regular basis but in reality it probably only happened every few years. Once, after Priss and were married we drove over Wolf Creek and saw where a truck load of onions had gone off the cliff. The canyon looked like a new snow storm had hit the area and what was left of the truck looked like a tiny toy crumpled at the bottom. We heard the driver had jumped from his rig and escaped with only a few bruises and the scare of his lifetime.
But progress is goes forward and today Wolf Creek is just about tame, the highway is four lane almost all the way over and even where it is two lane it is paved, it’s no longer as steep and there two avalanche sheds that cover the highway where vehicles pass safely under while avalanches crash over the top. Once the avalanches would close the highway for days at a time. All the steeper climbs now have passing lanes where slower traffic like trucks stay to the right and out of the way so us faster traffic can speed past them without ever realizing what a dangerous road this once was. Not only for those who drove it in the early days but for those that constructed it. Not saying progress is bad, it was a whole lot less stressful making the drive today than it was way back when.
In Pagosa there used to be thermal baths located right off the highway, several different pools representing the different water temperatures flowing out of the geothermal springs. The pools were open to the public and usually had a decent number of people enjoying the hot mineral water. In winter the rising steam was so thick the bathers were hard to see. The pools are no longer there, guess us old, fat, ugly bathers in our string bikinis and spandex suits were too much of a distraction for the highway folk. So the baths were closed and moved. The hot springs are now located off a side street, away from the highway and located in “thermal spas”, behind walls and out of site of the horrified traffic. Seems to have lost some of its raw romance.
Priss and I packed a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, left the Noffsingers to man the camp for the day and braved the drive over Wolf Creek to South Fork then North to Creede, River Hill, Thirty Mile and the Rio Grande Reservoir, head waters to the mighty Rio Grande River. In the early days the reservoir was called Farmer’s Union Reservoir because the potato farmers from the San Louis Valley had gone together, constructed the reservoir in union to ensure the summer water supply for their crops was secure.
Way back when Priss’ and Susan’s grandmother and grandfather had built a cabin just downstream from the Rio Grande Reservoir dam and directly above what became River Hill Campground. A few years ago the South Fork forest fire had ravaged the area and destroyed much of the beautiful old growth forest. Luckily the firefighting crews had worked hard and saved all the structures in the area. The cabin is still there, still standing even though it has to be close to or over a hundred years old. Before Priss’ and Susan’s grandmother passed she sold the property to a family from Grandbury, Texas. No one was at the cabin when we went by so we don’t know if the same people still own the property. (All the grandkids probably shudda, wudda, coulda bought the place but we were all too young and broke beginning our own new families).
But it did us good to see the old property, and see the Thirty Mile Campground, Rio Grande Reservoir and the beautiful mountain valley where the Rio Grande River begins its flow to the Gulf of Mexico. But, we didn’t take the time to see if Trego’s still existed. Trego’s was a cluster of very small, mountain vacation cabins that started as primitive and very, very slowly forced to slightly modernize through the years. Old lady Trego was very frugal and didn’t spend her hard earned money on unnecessary luxury things, like insulating the electrical lines when she finally brought electricity to the “resort”. Just pay attention to what you’re doing and you’ll be ok. She never bothered to bring indoor plumbing or water to the cabins. After years of the state fighting her to comply with the safety and other codes, and her fighting back just as hard to be left alone the state finally forced her to close. We drove by a good number of years ago and the place was still vacant and in pretty bad shape. Would have been surprised if it is even standing today. There goes progress.
We couldn’t believe all the new construction that had taken place all over the area since our last visit a number of years ago. That progress thing again. Dozens and dozens of new cabins, homes, RV parks and recreation businesses have been build everywhere, Pagosa Springs, South Fork, Creede and everywhere in between. Fun Valley used to be a small mountain dude ranch outside South Fork on the eastern slope of Wolf Creek Pass. Today it is huge with many cabins and we’d guess a couple hundred RV sites, horse stables, rafting outfits, hiking trails, mountain biking and anything they could think of to bring in the Summer tourist bucks. We just did not realize how popular the mountain outdoors had become. Must be getting old, staying too close to home and letting that progress thing get past us.
We were letting the day get away from us so we didn’t venture further into the San Luis Valley where Priss’ and Susan’s parents, grandparents and their collection of kin-folk had worked the land, raised and taken care of their families for a few generations. All are gone now, either passed away or moved away to make their own lives better.
Later
-Tom