Durango to Ridgway, sixty air miles. Drive out the park, turn left, and drive right there on highway 550, only eighty highway miles. We drove out the park and turned right. South on 550, west on 160, north on 145, east on 162, and there you are, Ridgway, one-hundred ten miles. One-hundred ten miles, and we didn’t drive over Red Mountain Pass. We looped around and went over Lizard Head. Lizard Head is steep on the north side, we smelled the brakes and pulled over to let them cool part way down, but it’s no Red Mountain. No string of steep fifteen mile per hour switchbacks on Lizard Head.
So here we are at Ridgway State Park, the place we always get hugs from Danny and Jeannie, perennial camp hosts, but they’re not here this year. They moved on…, but not far. We can still go into town, Ridgway, and get hugged. We know where they are.
