Trujillo Meadows Colorado

[mountainborn]

Located in the edge of the South San Juan Wilderness of the Rio Grande National Forest, in Conejos County Colorado, the Trujillo Meadows Campground is right beside a Trout filled Lake that is filed by snow melt run off, and is at 10,050 feet of elevation. Just under fifty campsites, with one host campsite that has water, you treat it yourself with a chlorinator, and the only septic tank there. There is no electricity. But is in dense Conifer forest and has lots of wildlife. There are Bear warnings posted. Yup, it is just exactly, our kind of place ! Eighteen miles to get the mail, gas, groceries, ect..

We accepted a position as campground Hosts for 2009. Could that be hillbilly speak for working for minimum wage ? We ain't never been paid to camp before ! It is a short season at that elevation. From about mid may to the first week in September. Some years they can't get in there in mid May, because the snow isn't melted off yet. The snow was so heavy last year that the nearest grocery store's roof caved in ! Jeep trails, hiking trails, steam trains, and just on and on with the list of cool stuff to do.

Here is a link to an article with a map:

http://www.hikercentral.com/campgrounds/115668.html

They say that the best camping is from June to August, if you are in the area, be sure to stop in for a cup of coffee. We are the first campsite on the right. The storms last Winter left lots of dead and down timber and we will bring a chainsaw for nightly hot cocoa and smores around the campfire ! Dried Conifer makes the coolest crackling sounds and colors when burning at that altitude ! All you will need to bring are lawn chairs and stories for the campfire chatting.

[tumbleweed]

Congratulations!!! How did ya'll fall into that cool gig??? We're checking back on Roper Lake in Safford, AZ and hoping for our chance at min wage!

[SeaDawg]

This must be one out of the way, gorgeous place. Every review (of 12) I read was positive, but no photos except for one postage stamp size photo of a railway... not sure if it's the same mountain. Congrats! Hope you enjoy your summer!

[mountainborn]

Cumbres pass, the nearest paved road, has a snow depth gauge that can be checked online. Just checked it. He, he. Cumbres Pass snow level. Down 4.4" to 91.1."

Holey toledo !

Will it be all gone by May ?

[mountainborn]

Cleaned, Replaced mantles and burnt them in, on our Northstar Coleman lanterns, yepper, we a' gettin' ready !

[mountainborn]

Checked the snow depth guage at Cumbres Pass this morning. Even though the snow has been melting off at the rate of two plus inched per day, there is still 70.9 inches of snow on the ground.

Betty commented, "Wow, it's meltin' right on off !", then I told her that if she was standing flat footed on the ground it would be so far over her head that just her finger tips would show !

None the less we are still getting all of our stuff ready.

[earthdancer]

Dear Mountainborn.....plse be VERY careful in what you say to Betty...her nickname IS Butcherknife.....

[earthdancer]

Dear Mountainborn.....plse be VERY careful in what you say to Betty...her nickname IS Butcherknife.....

[mountainborn]

Here's a paste from the last few days from the snow gauge at Cumbres pass:

>

United States Natural Resources Water and Climate Center

Department of Conservation

Agriculture Service Portland,OR

 

D A T A R E P O R T

** Provisional data, subject to revision **

04/29/09

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Change In

Snow Water Snow Snow Water Change In

Site Name Date Time Equivalent Depth Equivalent Snow Depth

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CUMBRES TRESTLE 04/22 0000 34.2 80.8

04/23 0000 32.9 78.4 -1.3 -2.4

04/24 0000 32.0 75.4 -0.9 -3.0

04/25 0000 31.1 73.1 -0.9 -2.3

04/26 0000 30.4 70.9 -0.7 -2.2

04/27 0000 30.7 68.7 0.3 -2.2

04/28 0000 29.9 65.2 -0.8 -3.5

04/29 0000 29.1 62.0 -0.8 -3.2

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

Can ya' imagine it ? The snow is melting off like crazy, yet, there is still over five feet deep snow in the pass !

[SeaDawg]

And you and Betty need to go thru this pass to your workcamping site?

I know you were up there last year. What's the road like going up there? What types of rigs usually camp at Trujillo, or is it mostly tenters and smaller trailers like our Olivers?

Sherry

[mountainborn]

It is a good, wide, paved, State maintained road to Cumbres Pass them a wide gravel road, 2 1/2 miles to the campground. Class A's go there often, but only if they like boondocking. There is no water hookups, no electric, no sewer hookup or dump ( vault toilets ). There was a 36' class A there last year with a solar array on the roof.

Escape, Sherry ! ESCAPE !

Can't you guys hear the trout filled lake calling to you ?

[SeaDawg]

Actually, I can hear the trout calling to us. Yes, I'd rather eat walleye, but I like pan-fried crispy skin mountain trout as well. Flip a coin.

 

We sincerely hope to find our way up the mountain to Trujillo Meadows sometime this summer. We have about three months (plus or minus a few weeks....) of freedom, and we'd really like to take our Oliver through the Rocky mountains (via NE Missouri..mom and dad... and Minnesota... my sisters and brothers... we visited Paul's family last year in western New York. My turn, this year.)...If a Class A can go up the mountain, we know we're golden, even with the extended length of the new quad cab truck & trailer combo. Even if we don't make it to Alaska this year, we'll wait a year or two... It'll be there.'

 

Sherry

[mountainborn]

WooHoo ! Very cool !

[JuniorBirdMan]

Larry,

I read on another forum that someone was changing the carburetor jet on their Honda generator for high altitude operation. Are you going to do that with your Yamaha or does it have mixture adjustments?

 

I'm trying to figure out if my Honda will work as is for just a few days or if I need to modify it.

[mountainborn]

You know, I have read similar posts and wondered about that myself. Our Yamaha 3000 has ran just fine while camped at 10K on several occasions.

Last year at the ghost town of Eureka Colorado, ( we were there for days ), I thought that it might be running a little rich. It started readily and carried the load well, just seemed to be running a bit rich. By that I mean that the exhaust which was normaly extremely clean, could be seen for a few seconds,when starting up, and had a faint fuel odor to it. After start up and running at load for a few seconds, the exhaust cleared up and the slight odor dissappeared. Temperatures dropped below freezing daily because of the time of the year, but the remote wireless start and stop worked well. We never had to pull the starter rope even once. Daily there were snow showers with no accumilation, usually a granular type of snow that is locally called "hominy" snow.

We ran our genset often, using about 3/4 of a tank of gasoline, because we didn't have solar at that time. Though we carry an extra spark plug for such an emergency, we have never had to use it.

I think the thing to do might be have a jet on hand or swing by a local Honda dealer that will have the correct size in stock since he does business at that elevation.