> What does a $5 parking pass give the purchaser??? And where? And why?
Absolutely nothing. If I recall, there are a series of county "parks" along
the way. Technically speaking, there is a fee for parking in them. As long
as there is nobody around with a badge, you probably can get away without
ever paying a dime. But paying does do the following:
1. Helps financially support the availability of recreational opportunities.
2. May give access to better locations.
3. Encourages you to stop at more of the locations to "justify" your
payment.
4. Depending on your world view, may be morally the correct thing to do.
I have a thing against traffic noise and wide-open unshaded places for
camping, but there are several severely underused campgrounds along the way.
If a person was into fishing, these would be terrific. We tent camp, so we
chose not to use these locations because of another reason. The wind can
really howl down through the canyon. During the daytime (in the summer), it
gets very hot and dry, but at night the wind is bending the tent poles
pretty badly. We usually prefer views and quiet, anyway.
Our last trip to Colorado gave us a rather interesting experience. We had
camped up at Molas Lake (at the top of a pass between Durango and Silverton)
and froze. Camping at that altitude was also a bit problematic for my
wife--Anything above 9000' is an issue. So we went to look for a place for
the next couple of nights at a lower (and potentially warmer) altitude. Ends
up, we headed back to the Salida-Beuna Vista valley again. We explored the
various forest campgrounds on the west side of the divide, but the "culture"
of the locals and those recreating there was a bit disconcerting. One of our
favorite spots is east of the Alpine Tunnel, so we thought that maybe the
Pitkin area would be good. Honestly, I don't "creep out" very easily, but we
couldn't get out of there fast enough. It was odd. The farther up the valley
we went, the quieter we all got. We didn't say more than five words to each
other for the next hour. At some point I said "OK, I'm ready to go
elsewhere", everybody exhaled and nobody complained that I drove like a
madman back down that road.
AG
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