March 19, 2026
We left Monument Valley yesterday March 18 in the afternoon and head northeast towards Cortez. We reason that we can travel 122 miles to Cortez today and an equal amount tomorrow arriving in Pagosa Springs a half a day early. Maybe we can do a little sight seeing at the springs before we leave on March 20. Everything is going well except our route has a lot of road construction. No worries, we aren’t going that far says the overconfident driver.
So we pull into Cortez and Jil says her smarty pants phone say turn into that driveway- where the “closed for the winter” signs are posted in a hundred yards from the street…….. Gads……. I tell Jil that I spoke to the lady at the RV park- there must be a mistake. We unhitch the Subaru so I can back the Big Dog out. Jil takes off like her car is on fire. I don’t know where she went. I look at the note I had written and try to contact Jil to give her the address. She says she’s driving on dirt roads looking for the RV park.. Still not knowing where Jil is I head east in the motorhome trying to find the RV Park..
Well Cowboy, we aren’t gonna find this RV park in Cortez- it’s in Durango a mere 50 miles a way. How the RV Parks were transposed we’ll never know as both affiliates of the same company. That park’s subsidiary pulled the fast one, not Pagosa Springs.
We pass the ever popular Mesa Verde National Park which is in between Cortez and Durango.
Durango Silverton Railroad
So we spent another hour driving to Durango, CO looking for the RV park. We finally find it in spite of the employee’s claim that there is a “big” sign out front.
Next morning we only have an hour drive to Pagosa Springs, easily find our campground and cruise into the town of Pagosa Springs, elevation 7100 feet and 1571 souls.
The town is located around the “Mother Spring” which feeds primitive and developed springs. This network of springs includes the world’s deepest geothermal hot spring. The primitive springs are easily accessible to the public but are too hot to soak in. The water from the “Mother” spring is approximately 144 degrees and feeds all the other springs, the water of which is cooled in the habitable locations.
This is “off season” for Pagosa Springs yet the hotels who have developed springs are doing gangbuster business. We like the town despite half the streets being worked on making travel in town more difficult.
So I gave Pagosa Springs a bad wrap in the title to this blog post. I left it because it sounded so cool. In reality we don’t know how one RV park in Cortez was exchanged for one 50 miles away in Durango.
Travel With Jil and Mike 