861. Pagosa Springs, Archuleta County (CO47)

Once I arrived in Pagosa Springs, I was stuck in a traffic slowdown. There were pre-Fourth celebrations afoot, so downtown was filled with pedestrian muggles. When I finally made it to the courthouse, I was confused as all get out. What the holy heck was going on with it? Parts of it had been closed? Some offices had been relocated to other buildings? An entire section, the part directly behind the flagpoles was occupied by an energy company? Half the windows were boarded over? What the hell was all this? I stopped at the coffee shop next door and a barista explained much of it: recently, someone had tried to burn it down a few weeks before. In fact, the local paper was touting that a suspect had been apprehended. That explained most of it, but it didn’t explain the energy company. How unsavory was it to have a company working out of the county courthouse? But at least I got most of the answers I wanted. The rest didn’t really matter. Once I had gotten a chai latte, I continued on to the other objective.

Since the Colorado County Challenge is cache agnostic (except for Events), I opted for a nearby EarthCache. A couple hundred feet from the courthouse was a spout for the Pagosa Hot Springs. Over the years, a large mineral deposit had built up over it; it no longer spouts. But it was a chemical cornucopia concerning the composition of the waters. I took a little time to learning about them as well as the history of the springs and then submitted answers to the CO along with providing a photo at the site. As always, my trusty umbrella served me well for imaging purposes. Once my work was done, I took a long hard sigh realizing I’d have to drive back up through Wolf Creek Pass to get to my next destination…