We drove through red mud puddles to the Sand Island Petroglyph wall. It was covered with hundreds of petroglyphs including hands, spirals, a horseback man, antelope hunting scenes, Navajo style people, and papooses.
Once back on US 191 north, the mud flinging out of our tires was so noisy it made us laugh. Just past Bluff, Utah we turned right on UT 162 and continued to Aneth. At Aneth we headed north on Ismay Trading Post Road and then retraced our westward bound route on CO G through a beautiful valley past the now snow capped Ute Peak.
We stopped to resupply at the City Market in Cortez then kept going east on US 160 to Pagosa Springs, Colorado while looking for a place to camp. There were no campgrounds open and the USFS roads were gated. At Pagosa Springs we decided to try Walmart for the first time but there was a city ordinance against overnight parking. Next we tried a muddy parking lot by a restaurant and then parking with big rigs behind a gas station but both places were very noisy.
Finally we found Pagosa Riverside Campground, a former KOA, that was open all year and filled with elk hunters. The park had showers, laundry, a store, and WIFI. Since it was dark, the nice staff escorted us by golf cart to our site by the small lake.
With a weather forecast for 10 degrees Fahrenheit, we drained all the water from the camper and moved our extra water jugs inside.
Lesson Learned: Use local supermarket loyalty programs. We saved money by getting a City Market loyalty card heading west and using it again heading eat.
Lesson Learned: You can drain the water tank faster by running the water pump with the sink on.
