Vallecito Reservoir holds, for me, a number of childhood memories. My parents brought us, with a small, overpowered, sixteen foot boat on an excursion from the southeast New Mexico desert plains to the alpine mountain lakes of Colorado; I have loved Colorado ever since.  Anyway, we set up base camp and spend the next three days exploring a some of the numerous trails in the area.  Furthermore, we spent some time kayaking on the lake; the water was crystal clear and smooth like glass. Locals told us it was a great location for fishing, however we weren’t equipped to take advantage of such an activity.  And as before, we saw deer, squirrels, chipmunks, and a variety of birds. But, what we wanted to see most never come into view; bears, big horned sheep, and mountain goats.

One additional thing before leaving Vallecito, using the app, Sky View, I tracked the rise and set of the Milky Way over the lake, set up my camera on a tripod and waited for the prime time to take astrological pics; it was 2am.  Closing out our eighth day on the trip, we were yearning for a hot shower, soft bed, and a sit-down meal that did come out of a bag. So, in the morning we packed up and put Vallecito behind with Durango being just over a couple mountain ridges to our west.