Sometimes in our travel plans, we like to leave space in order to be a little bit spontaneous, and take advantage of fun places along the way of our journey that we might not have known of originally. We knew we had a couple of days open and unaccounted for around Justin’s birthday in July, And had thrown around some ideas of where to spend that time, knowing that we would be coming from Great Sand Dunes National Park, and eventually ending up in the Denver area. After picking the brains of a couple of our friends about where we should spend that time, we landed on a small mountain town in Southern Colorado, Pagosa Springs. We knew which it was just a few hours away from Great Sand Dunes National Park, where we had just explored as a family.
The drive from Great Sand Dunes National Park to Pagosa Springs was gorgeous, the highway winding through the Southern Colorado mountains, and finally, down into a gorgeous Basin, where Pagosa Springs is located. The views from the side of the mountain down into Pagosa were breathtaking.
We arrived at our campground, the Pagosa Riverside Campground, in the late afternoon, and were immediately smitten. The kids and I frolicked down to the river first thing, where we put our feet in the water. What a gorgeous and picturesque location!
The campground itself was lovely, with a wonderful general store, a fun game room for the kids with pool and air hockey, and a little lake where you could rent paddle boats. Situated right on the side of the San Juan river, the views were spectacular, and we enjoyed spending some time down at the river before dinner that evening.
The next morning, we woke up, ready to hit town that day on our bikes. Just a short mile and a half bike ride from the campground, we rode our bikes into town, and had some coffee and hot chocolate at one of the local shops. The town of Pagosa Springs is quaint and charming, and we immediately fell in love. We rode our bikes further into town, where we arrived at Pagosa Outside Adventures, the recommended outfitter for tubing on the San Juan river.
After scoping out the river, we decided to rent single tubes for each person in our family to enjoy the river that day. What fun we had! The river has some pretty good rapids at a few parts, and each of us took a spill out of our tube at one point or another during our journey. We took several turns tubing a mile stretch or so through town, and then walked back each time on the paved bike trail that runs alongside the river. It was so much fun! And we were all howling with laughter when we took turns being tossed by the rapids into the river!
Justin even lost a pair of sunglasses. RIP, Maui Jims!
In addition to tubing on the river, our family would definitely recommend spending time in the hot springs in Pagosa. There are several hot springs in Pagosa that run alongside the river, and a few resorts where you can even purchase day passes to enjoy hot spring pools. Since we were tubing that day, our family opted to enjoy the hot springs along the side of the river that were accessible to the bike path. We had so much fun getting in the hot springs a couple of times on our journey walking back to our tubing destination. Some of them are really hot, but we found a couple of pools that felt like a hot tub, and enjoyed relaxing in them!
In addition to all of the outdoor adventures the town offers, the downtown area of Pagosa is also incredibly charming with its line of shops and restaurants. We opted for dinner that evening at Riff Raff Brewing Company, to celebrate Justin‘s 43rd birthday! It was a wonderful little spot, situated right on the river, and the perfect place to relax as a family, and enjoy some good food and drink.
We returned to our campground that evening in time to have some birthday ice cream, and relax together. Before hitting the road the next morning, we made sure to make another stop in town to check out a few more of the shops. Our time in Pegosa Springs was so, so sweet, and our family is already plotting a return trip to this destination in the near future! What a gem you are, Pagosa Springs!
