Gateview Campsite in the middle of nowhere, CO

​July 27, 2022

I left Stevens Campground towards the Elk Creek visitor center. I talked to Forest Ranger Mike, who told me about Gateview campground. It was over an hour and 20 minutes from Elk Creek through a dirt road towards a canyon along a river, that spills into Lake Fork, through the Ute Indian Reservation. I got here around 2 PM, and here it is 7 PM, where I haven’t seen a single soul until just now. This is a campground, but with only one or two pull out parking areas, for an RV such as myself. Other than a slight hike into a tent area. I took a hike earlier today along the river which is actually an old narrow gauge railroad that ran from 1889 until just after 1933. A mini boom town silver and gold mining operation, that didn’t last for nearly as long as they had hoped. all things considered a 40 year run could be a working person‘s career. It’s funny how things in one perspective and era, could seem very different in another. There is absolutely no evidence of a railway here. It’s rather confusing because it just looks like a dirt trail along the river and nothing else. There are placards explaining the history here, but it’s hard to wrap around the idea that there was a railroad. 

I feel like I’m in the movie… close encounters. I am camped right nearby a huge rock monolith a beautiful crusted colorful rock that is sitting right in front of my RV. I have tried to photograph it, without doing it justice. Now at dusk I am watching the swallows swooping in and out from the top. I’ve taken videos, and time will tell whether or not it resonates, but I can hear them swooping in, flying and gathering up the insects for dinner. In the background is the rushing waters, as I’m still one of the few people here today on a Wednesday late in July. I am just completely in love with the state of Colorado. If it weren’t for the fact that there’s snow here and cold winters, I could see myself here. Each place I’ve visited has been more stunning than the next. I am in love!







































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