Silt Colorado

 

 The fuel stop that we had reached running on fumes turned out to be immediately adjacent to the campground where we would be work camping for five months. The campground was located in Silt, Colorado which was a small town where none of the restaurants knew how to cook a good pizza or build a good sub. But since we were traveling with our own kitchen that proved to be a relatively minor inconvenience.

The KOA campground was relatively new with some spacious RV sites, and beautiful views of the surrounding mountain ranges. It was a different experience to step outside in the morning sunshine and see snow-capped mountains. 

 

Silt is located in the region known as Colorado's high desert. The high desert sits between mountain ranges that split in a V to the north and south. Frequently approaching storms would blacken the skies to the west. Thunder would echo and heavy rain would form an encroaching gray wall. And then, like Noah parting the Red Sea, the wall would split.  There would be rain to the north of us and rain to the south, while we were left in the middle with not a drop of moisture

. When we arrived in April, nighttime temperatures were in the mid to low 30's with daytime temps climbing to the upper 70's / low 80's. By the time time July  rolled around is was just plain hot with nights in the upper 70's and daytime temps breaking 100 on a fairly regular basis. 

What we had heard about dry heat proved to be true. One hundred degree temperatures are much more tolerable when the humidity is low. But on those occasions when a mid-day thunderstorm did roll through, everyone wilted when the sun came back out.

The way the work camping thing worked for us was we worked 24 hours over 4 days. The schedule was structured so that we had 3-1/2 consecutive days off. That gave us lots of opportunities to explore Colorado including State Parks as well as National Parks and Monuments.  

Because Silt is just shy of one mile above sea level we knew we needed to be fully adjusted to the altitude before setting off on any strenuous hikes or walks. We started off walking the nature trails near the campground. Parts of the trail followed the Colorado River and watery offshoots where lots of beaver could be spotted around dusk.

There was evidence everywhere of just how industrious the beavers were. However they didn't necessarily take into account that if they gnawed a twelve foot tree it would get hung up in the neighboring trees rather than falling to the ground. All that hard work with no wood to add to the lodge must have been discouraging.