The campground has a beautiful setting in the Pine, Spruce and even a few Cottonwood trees. Was surprised to see the Cottonwoods, I thought it would be too high for them. But they obviously liked their location very much and were spitting out the cotton to prove it. Should have been there a week or two later. That was probably only one of the two negatives about the campground. Cotton flying everywhere and the mosquito army that came out in force every evening. But a little Deet solved that issue. Oh, and another negative was smoking campfires, or rather the people that don’t know how to build a campfire and let it smoke and smoke and smoke. If a campfire is really on fire there is very little smoke.
When we were kids and young adults (many years ago) we came to Vallecito all the time. The road wound around the West side of the lake, around the North side and only a little way down the East side then would stop at private property. We decided to see if it might go farther after all these years so we gave it a try. And yes it did, It went through private land, forest service and and more private land and after five miles or so, moved away from the lake shore and took a turn to the Southeast into a valley we had never seen before. It was an absolutely beautiful valley with a river running through it, still haven’t found out the name of the river, but i will. There were several private ranches along the road and were intersected by National Forest lands. Was just amazed we did not know this valley existed. We drove about ten miles until the road ended at a National Forest campground. Then we drove back and enjoyed the same views in reverse You just can’t beat the mountains or the desert.
We had friends that used to have a cabin at the North end of the lake near an offshoot of the Pine River, we had been to it dozens of times (40 years ago) so we decided to find it again. No luck, so many cabins have been built in the area since we were there last and they all look alike. We could not identify our old friends cabin or even where we thought it should be. So we gave up and drove to get a burger (for Priss a gluten free pizza that wasn’t fully gluten free).
We had another friend that used to be the nurse for my doctor in Farmington, quit the profession and opened a restaurant/bar at Vallecito and was very successful for many years but we found out she had passed away two or three years ago. She sold her business several years before she died and the new owners did not fare as well as she had.
We didn’t do a lot but just enjoyed mountain scenery from our youth, the warm days and the very cool nights, and had to turn on the heater every morning before daylight. We’re tough but not that tough. Hard to imagine we used to go there and just sleep outside by the lake shore on the ground (but we had blankets, we weren’t that tough then either).
Was happy to see the landscape hadn’t changed that much over the years and the big forest fire from a few years ago had only burned one mountain slope down to the lake. There are a whole lot more cabins in the area and a lot more people than there were back then but that’s to be expected. Was great to visit some old stomping grounds again and just do a whole lot of nothing for a change. We’ll be rested and ready to resume our travels.
Later
-Tom