Zapata Campground

[RGINN]

Wow, almost the end of April and first time I've got out. This campground is in the San Luis Valley south and up the hill from the Great Sand Dunes National park. We haven't been there since they went reservation only. Generally a quiet place but only two tent camping sites can accommodate my tent. Nice weather, not too cold, but windy. We stayed two nights. Best thing, they've paved the road leading up there, which used to be around 3 miles of unpaved bad road and worse. It would take 30 to 45 minutes to navigate it, and sometimes you could hit 12mph, and low clearance vehicles should forget it. I guess it will attract more people now. You always get some great sunsets here and great views of the valley. Best part was leaving out Friday morning and stopped to let Maria use the bathroom, and noticed a young man having a lot of difficulty getting a fire started. Probably cause you can't light one of those logs in that firewood bundle with a match. So I walked over, split some of his wood up, doused it with lighter fluid (OIT) threw in a match and got his fire goin. He said it was his first time out, it was about sunrise, pretty cool, and he really didn't looked geared up for that part of the country. Maybe some more experienced folks were going to show up. It's kind of a contradiction for me, cause it does aggravate me a little to see more and more people coming out, but I don't want any of them to have a bad experience so they never come back.

 

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[ToddsPoint]

Nimrods! It’s funny, in the Bible Nimrod was a great hunter. Somehow that got twisted around and it became slang for a newbie to rural or western life that didn’t know anything. It’s folks like you Ginn, that helped a lot of pilgrims survive back in the day.👍🏻

 

[RGINN]

Well ToddsPoint any one of the guys on here would do the same. You know I always carry a little extra something for those newbies, just in case. This young man was appreciative and learned a little somethin, I hope. Bet he thought I was like Jeremiah Johnson or somebody, haha! I was a state park ranger in Oklahoma for 7 years, and I helped and showed people how to set up tents, build a proper fire, best place to set their tent, how to fish, what poison ivy was and what to do after you get it, you can eat this, don't eat that, pretty much anything outdoor related you could imagine.

 

[Chilli]

Wow, almost the end of April and first time I've got out. This campground is in the San Luis Valley south and up the hill from the Great Sand Dunes National park. We haven't been there since they went reservation only. Generally a quiet place but only two tent camping sites can accommodate my tent. Nice weather, not too cold, but windy. We stayed two nights. Best thing, they've paved the road leading up there, which used to be around 3 miles of unpaved bad road and worse. It would take 30 to 45 minutes to navigate it, and sometimes you could hit 12mph, and low clearance vehicles should forget it. I guess it will attract more people now. You always get some great sunsets here and great views of the valley. Best part was leaving out Friday morning and stopped to let Maria use the bathroom, and noticed a young man having a lot of difficulty getting a fire started. Probably cause you can't light one of those logs in that firewood bundle with a match. So I walked over, split some of his wood up, doused it with lighter fluid (OIT) threw in a match and got his fire goin. He said it was his first time out, it was about sunrise, pretty cool, and he really didn't looked geared up for that part of the country. Maybe some more experienced folks were going to show up. It's kind of a contradiction for me, cause it does aggravate me a little to see more and more people coming out, but I don't want any of them to have a bad experience so they never come back.
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Very nice. 👍

 

[tamrock]

Back when the Molybdenum mine in Questa NM was up and going I'd drive up that paved road that passes by that Zapata area on the way home. There's a buffalo herd out in all that vastness and I only saw them one time in all the times I drove up that road. Took this picture from a distance around the first of April 2014. It's funny I was just this morning reading these feedbacks left by some of those who've visited the dunes. Kinda think you encountered one of those visitors on your trip down that way...

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