Arriving in Durango and Four Mile Trail

Julie and I left Madison on August 16 for a long, 1300 mile drive to Durango, CO. We left a little later than we hoped which meant we arrived in Durango around 10:30pm on Sunday the 17th. The good part of the late arrival was that we got to see this super cool rainbow, somewhere east of Wolf Creek Pass.

Colorado rainbow

Colorado is like Florida in that it often rains while being sunny, which leads to rainbows and other neat things.

I had faculty orientation starting Monday at 8:30am. That was a little tough, to get up so early after the long two-day drive, but it was ok.

Later in the week Julie and I drove over to Pagosa Springs and hiked the Four Mile Trail which had this beautiful 300 foot waterfall along it. The guidebook clearly explained the waterfall, but I didn't read the three numbers "300" in front of it so I was thinking a little 25 foot cascade or something. What a treat when we stumbled upon this!

Lower Falls on Four Mile Trail

A close-up shot

The rocks at the base of the falls were this turquoisy-blue color. I think it's some sort of algae. It made the falls even more gorgeous. We played around at the base for a while taking photos and being awed.

Turquoisy rocks

Humongous dandelion-like flower (about 4" in diameter)

grasshoppers were jumping everywhere

Julie took this photo along the trail. I liked the angle. It's one of my favorites of hers.

Four Mile Trail by Julie

During the hike we were definitely feeling out of shape! It was about 6.5 miles round trip and took us about 4.5 hours. There are some good hills out here! They sure make for some gorgeous scenery.

The next day we did the tourist thing and took the Durango-Silverton train. Check out the next post for more.