Ignoring The Barking Dogs: VA Poma Ranch and Williams Reservoir Area

Why the title?

"Pioneers take the arrows"

Oh, wait. I should be upbeat and taking arrows doesn't sound like an upbeat thing to say.

So, let me amend that statement.

It was courage and vision that led the pioneers to leave behind a comfortable, settled life and trek West to begin a new life in a new place. Many of those from the East that went West found a strength within themselves that they didn't see while they were in their old life. Instead of being one of those that just kind of went along with the others in the old life, they became leaders and visionaries in their new lives.

The sentiments of that last paragraph come from a favorite author, Louis L'Amour, in many of his books. So, I can't really say that it is an original thought from me. However, what he said is truthful.

Welcome to being a pioneer. Look ahead and ignore the "barking dogs" that give you negative opinions and comments. Louis L'Amour also spoke of the barking dogs.

In some of his stories, it was usually a father or older man telling a young boy how it was that when the Westward bound Conestoga wagons rolled through towns, the dogs came out to bark at them. His character then told the young listener that the barking didn't stop the wagons from going on to their destinations.

Following the advice of the Louis L'Amour characters, may we all forge ahead with our plans, after carefully considering all consequences and leave the "barkers" behind.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

VA Poma Ranch and Williams Reservoir Area

The last post I did was on Forest Road 636 that runs north and east of Sportsman’s Campground. For today’s entry, I’ll post photos of the area that is more north and west of Sportsman’s. As for this vacation to Sportsman’s and the Pagosa Springs/SW Colorado was taken from August 22 through September 3 of 2009.

As I mentioned in the last post, Howard and Linda had workkamped in the area NW of Sportsman’s. Incidentally, in the last post, I incorrectly referred to the ranch as La Poma Ranch, so please note the correct name of VA Poma Ranch. While I didn’t take any pictures of the ranch itself, I do have a few pictures of views from the ranch area.

I guess I should mention that the forest roads are all dirt and gravel. However, the views along them are great in the Weminuche Wilderness. This next photo was taken along Forest Road 631, which branches off near Sportsman’s Campground to go NW towards the Williams Reservoir area. Then at the junction, one takes Forest Road 640 to actually get to the reservoir.

While I didn’t stop and get any pictures, there is a national forest campground just north of the junction of Forest Roads 631 and 640. That is the one I mentioned in the last post as having some sites with full services. The beauty of that campground is that it is broken up with different sites in separated areas, so there is not a lot of congestion.

But, without any pictures of the area, the best I could do was to use Google maps and Microsoft Word to come up with an image. Sorry that it isn’t really great.

There is a small campground at Williams Reservoir, but I don’t remember that there was any kind of RV hookups. So, if you going there, I would suggest that you prepare for boondocking. Williams is not a large lake, but it is nestled within some minor peaks.

Rather than try to describe it any further, let me just provide some photos taken on that first day.