Today it is supposed to be sunny and 69 F! Since we are in the Southern Hemisphere, that means we are in late spring!
I wonder what’s for breakfast.
The beautiful spread of fresh juices, coffee and granola.
The sandwiches for the guides and fly fishers!
Delicious banana apple muffins.
Cantaloupe with raspberries.
Omelette for Steve.
Fried eggs for me.
After breakfast we met Duncan, Steve’s guide, and I checked out where the helicopter would land.
Steve with Duncan his guide.
Flyagra for flies that sink instead of float.
Steve’s gear ready to go.
Waiting for the helicopter to arrive.
The helicopter lands outside the lodge. Helicopter flights are an extra charge. A very expensive extra charge, but if you don’t fly out, you won’t find fish!
Loading up and they are off!
After I saw the anglers and the guides off I decided to take a walk to find someplace comfortable to read (besides our cozy cabin with comfortable chairs, a coffee table for my feet, a kettle to make tea and a drink stocked refrigerator. Remind me again why I wanted a walk?)
Over the stream that ran behind our cabin I wandered. If it hadn’t have rained so much in the past few days Steve might have been able to fish here.
I found an outdoor pavilion where barbecues were probably held.
Then I wave Hi to the horses, I was planning on riding the next day.
I thought I finally found my perfect spot. Sofas, lots of natural light and a beautiful trophy specimen on the wall. I think that it was a 16 pointer! Although the room was pretty, the chairs all faced inside and not toward the view. Plus there were so many flies buzzing in the room I couldn’t stand it any longer!
So I trudged back to the lodge but by mistake took the upper pasture because I saw the lodge in the distance. Unfortunately I was supposed to take the lower pasture!
So after walking back and forth I finally figured out my mistake and made it back in time for lunch.
A lovely garden salad.
A cheese plate and fresh grated beets.
While I was reading today and exploring Steve was off fishing. Here are some pictures Steve took from the helicopter, some of the places that he fished, and the fish that he caught!
After Steve was done clambering in the streams Steve had to hike to a meadow to wait for the helicopter to pick him up. Steve told me that I would have divorced him if I would have gone along. He is right. I stroll, I don’t do whatever he was doing!
Steve fished theUpper Mangamarie above tree line. He described it as follows: It was super clear, about 200 cubic feet per second. It was tough going due to gorge sections that require scrambling “up and over” cliffs and deep pools. I caught 3 rainbows. Steve has told me since that it was one of the most difficult days fishing that he ever had. Not only were there cliffs, but he had to climb them wearing waders and his fishing boots!
Two of the fish weighed 4.5 pounds, one was 5.5 pounds.
Later in the afternoon the helicopter returned Steve, Duncan, and the rest of the anglers and guides. Then after showering and changing it was time for dinner.
For appetizers we had bacon wrapped figs, they looked too rare for me to eat!
Curry chicken wings.
Green lipped mussels, which are a Kiwi (New Zealander) favorite! Mine too!
Cheese straws.
Meat with vegetables.
Chocolate lava cake (lava was set and not oozing.)
Can you believe how white Steve’s beard was?
Would I have physically been able to clamber all those rocks like Steve did?
Weren’t those bacon wrapped figs disgusting?
You are probably wondering what happened to Sunday as we left Poughkeepsie on Saturday. New Zealand is 20 hours ahead of New York time, so it is very confusing! We totally lost Sunday but will get to relive two Sundays on the way back home!
The plane was very small. There were less than 15 people on our flight including the pilot and copilot!
But still big enough to fit Steve’s big beard! He did get it trimmed after our trip West during the month of September!
Outside the airport you can see the large Norfolk Island Pines. When I was in college I had a small Norfolk Island Pine in my dorm room. They grow quite large here.
Poronui is a large hunting and fishing lodge. They also have large Manuka bushes and many hives for bees that produce Manuka honey. Manuka honey is said to have many healthful properties. Here are some dairy cows for that beautiful New Zealand butter.
There are also red stags that are raised here, the Chinese use the horns for medicinal purposes. Think aphrodisiacs!
The living room, with a gas fireplace.
Looking toward the bedroom.
The bedroom. Steve says howdy! I did not make Steve sleep on that little bed. I kept my suitcase on it!
The bathroom with a heated towel rack.
From the bedroom looking toward the deck. What a beautiful place to read or just relax and enjoy the view!
This was the view outside our room.
We had a little fridge with complimentary drinks. Alas, no Champagne!
Lunch was quiche and a lovely salad.
Sunflower seed bread with gorgeous New Zealand butter.
Chocolate cake and chocolate truffles for dessert.
There were also fresh humongous chocolate chip cookies that need more chips!
We gathered in the main lodge for dinner. Here I am checking my messages.
Chicken mousse that Steve and I did not try as we don’t care for innards.
Mushroom soup.
Fried pork bellies.
Deep fried venison chorizo in a fry basket.
Dinner was roast New Zealand Lamb with vegetables.
We also had tomatoes with peppers, and a gorgeous salad of fresh spinach with shelled peas. You have to look pretty hard to see the peas, but they are there!
Dessert was a lemon tart with strawberries, garnished with whipped cream and rhubarb sauce.
Here I am at breakfast, reading the literature about the history of Cow Creek.
Please don’t quiz me! This is the view of the dining area from the opposite direction.
Breakfast!
I love my whipped cream on coffee!
After breakfast I wandered down to the horse barn for my scheduled ride.
Can you see the fish in the stream?
Here I am with one of the staff and Lanier one of the owners. This ranch had the first riding waiver that I had to sign that mentioned the possibility of death, I looked at Lanier and asked her how often that happened. I did not relish the thought of being their first casualty!
The creek at Cow Creek was very pretty.
Unfortunately there had been forest fires a few years ago and the hill sides were severely damaged.
This is some damage from a bear that was clawing on the tree!
Look how big the scars are from the bear claws!
My posture looked good, I was happy to be almost done with the ride! At one point in the ride my horse stumbled and I semi fell off it. No worries! I lived to tell the story!
Thank you for the ride Horse!
After my ride I walked back to the room where I rested for the rest of the day. The elevation really got to me and I was exhausted.
This is one of the fish that Steve caught in the morning from one of the lower beats on Cow Creek.
The fish was a real beauty, but Steve prefers less constructed streams. This fish was 21 inches.
So Steve and his guide moved upstream. This was one of the spots where Steve fished later in the day.
Isn’t this a beauty? He preferred the wild trout as opposed to the larger fish in the stocked ponds. This was his first Rio Grande cut throat.
Here is another area where he caught many wild trout.
I tried sitting here to read for a little bit while Steve was fishing. It got a bit too sunny for me so I went back inside.
I could see the horses gather near the gate while I read. You can see all the fire damage here.
This view is of one of the ponds that were created on Cow Creek.
The rooms were in a motel shape arrangement. They had a very bad fire that destroyed much of the landscape here. You can see how close the fire was to the lodge.
We had a somewhat green salad.
Dinner was pot roast. Followed by the cake from the previous night.
There were many hummingbird feeders under the eaves.
Here is a close up of one of the Hummingbirds. Aren’t they cute?
Steve took the day off from fishing. We got to have breakfast together! Waffles, fruits and bacon! Three of my favorites.
We walked to the base of the falls.
Aren’t we the cutest couple ever? Look! Steve is not wearing a plaid shirt!
We took a peak at the yoga studio.
This is the center of the camp. The fire pit where we would have s’mores at night. The dining hall is on the right, and the on the left was where they would hold large group dinners. The middle section was where they had a small gift shop.
Steve is checking out the river. If there is water and fish, he is usually checking it out.
Lunch!
Dessert! That is bread pudding and gluten free chocolate chip cookies.
Here is a picture of Steve and the waitstaff at the bar for our before dinner cheese and crackers.
What I should have done was started at the top of the list and tried one of the speciality drinks each night!
Here is a photo of Steve from his best angle. Ha Ha!
Normally dinner was at this table, but we were going to be a big group tonight, so we were going to be in a different room. We would also sit on the couches here before dinner also. You could also play pool in the room. Have I told you yet that Steve loves to play pool? He would love to put one in the bonus room at our Lake George house. I keep telling him NO!
This is a closeup of the bar. Supposedly Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were here and engraved their names in the bar. I think that is untrue, but Steve believes the story.
I guess Kay was one of Butch’s girlfriends.
I love the stamped ceiling.
As there were so many guests tonight all 26 of us sat at a long table in the dance hall.
Roasted parsnips and apples with pickled beech mushrooms, crispy Brussels graved quail eggs, and served with a Cliff-Lede 2013 Sauvignon Blanc.
Coffee rubbed Elk tenderloin with fire roasted tomato (some people had red, orange or yellow-very pretty!), root vegetable macedoine, and a coffee glaze. Our wine for this course was a Melville 2013 Syrah.
Dessert had us all scratching our heads. Rainbow carrot and parsnip financier, spiced walnuts, golden raisin purée, and cream cheese mousse. What is a financier? It means fancy little cake, so the dessert was really a deconstructed carrot cake.
As you recall this is Dunton during the day time.
This is the hole in that you had to crawl into to get inside. Originally sleeping in the teepee was an option but as there were too many critters that could sneak inside, they cancelled that option.
Here are Steve and I in the tee-pee.
It was really tall!
A view of magical Dunton Hot Springs . You can see the San Juan mountains in the distance, behind the resort which is a restored mining village. The place looks like a dump on the outside, but it is all five star inside!
Steve had an omelette for breakfast.
I had the mixed berry pancakes. Doesn’t everything look better with confectioners sugar on it?
After breakfast I strolled to the library, lit a fire and read for awhile. Steve went off fishing.
Lunch started with a plate of mixed greens.
This was followed by grilled corn and then beef and pork ribs.
That was some “good eating”!
Here is another view of the bar and where we would gather for cocktails before dinner.
So after lunch I went for another soak in the main hot spring building. Do you see the big gray box in the background by my toes? That is the cold soak tub. After you soaked in the hot springs you were supposed to go in the cold tub. I did it once and did not enjoy it. Steve thought it was quite invigorating. I am not an invigorating type of gal.
This is another picture of the main building. The red sofa in the background is where I was sitting in the prior picture. You can see the cold plunge pool on the right of the picture. This picture is from the Dunton web site.
After my soak I wandered around to take a few pictures. Our little cabin.
The view of the hills.
The stream right behind our cabin where Steve caught many fish.
Later in the afternoon I went to the open kitchen to see what the chef was up to. Looks like a soup in gourds.
Before dinner we cuddled up for a cozy picture. We showed all the honey-mooners you can still have fun after 37 years!
Dinner was in fact great soup in mini pumpkins.
Our entree was lamb.
Another delicious dessert.
After dinner we made s’mores by the bonfire.
Waffles again for breakfast. Yum Yum.
You can tell that I wasn’t crazy about the salad!
We had salmon for lunch.
Dessert was a berry crumble, and a berry bar!
With a view of the mountains, it can’t get much better than this! This spring was just outside of the cabin that the couple who owned the fancy Mercedes stayed in. They had left earlier in the morning so I might have actually soaked it in for a wee bit!
This is one of the places where Steve fished today. He caught 29 fish for the day!
Dunton’s elevation is 8600 feet. I celebrated no altitude sickness with a glass of champagne before dinner. And it was a raucous dinner! Two new guests came so I did my social duties and introduced the new comers to our two newlywed couples and our 10 year anniversary couple.
Dinner was a pretty micro green salad (you almost need a microscope to find the individual pieces, although it seems a close up from my iPhone works well!)
The entree was duck breast. The vegetarian option was panned by those who partook of that option.
Dessert was a fig and chocolate cake, I think. It was interesting.
Good morning!
Tuesday started with a great breakfast.
At Lunch we had a great salad with a vegetarian stir fry that was so-so.
The cookies with hazelnut filling were spectacular, so I had a happy tummy! I didn’t particularly care for the peach cream pie.
We had a dip in the bath house, and then in the outside spring until we heard thunder. Then it was time to vacate the outside hot spring!
Steve fished most of the rest of the day on the Dolores River and I did some reading. As the elevation here was a little bit higher than Brush Creek I didn’t want to exert myself too much. Our cabin was also the closest to the dining hall in case I had problems breathing. Elevation here is 8600 feet. The elevation at Brush Creek was around 7400 feet. We were gradually increasing our elevation. Our next stop will be at an elevation over 9000 feet. We shall see how I will do in a few days at that higher elevation!
Dinner was most entertaining. (Not because of the food, but the people we met!) We started off with a great garden salad.
Our entree was Trout en papillote, chanterelles, wild leeks, and pine nuts. Served with manoomin roasted carrots and pine cone syrup. The twist was that the trout was baked in a corn husk! What a clever twist on the traditional paper papillotte.
I was not crazy for the rustic apple tart served for dessert. No chocolate!
The doors open up just like the wings of a gull! The wife even had matching luggage! (Which I didn’t see, but I don’t think she would lie about that! )They stayed for a few days in Telluride and had pictures taken of them in the car tooling around. As the roads to Dunton were too bad the car was kept in an air plane hanger in Telluride so it wouldn’t get dusty until the couple was done with the photo shoot in Dunton!
You can just bet that Steve was itching to fish here! However, there was no time to stop today, as we were on our way to Dunton Hot Springs. Steve was going to be able to get his Colorado fish at Dunton. At least we hoped he would!
\We drove through the San Juan Mountains. The highest elevation was 10,100 feet. The Aspens had just started to turn golden.
You can see evidence of a rock slide here.
This is part of Telluride ski area.
This business in Rico, Colorado had seen better days. After 30 minutes of driving on a dirt road we saw a car with flashing lights. What was ahead?
A cowboy and his cattle.
After an hour on a dirt road we came to the gate that would separate Dunton Hot Springs Resort from the rest of the world! Steve is talking to staff asking them to open the gate for us. This was a former mining town from 1885 that turned into a ghost town. In 1994 it was bought and then restored by the Christopher Henkel, a German born London based investor. If you use Persil laundry detergent you keep his family and this place going! The place looks like a dump on the outside, but it is decorated in a five star way! 
Our cabin is the little one to the right of the main building. The main building is also where the dining area is located.
You can see the spa in the bath house being refilled. There had been a wedding the previous weekend and all the spas were drained, cleaned and then refilled. The spring looks yucky , that is because of all the minerals in the water. 
This is one of the outside springs behind one of the cabins.
This was another hot spring, you had to climb down stairs to get in.
Here is more of our tour of the town. 
The library with the bear skin rug that I tripped on. At least I didn’t go boom!
The library’s bottle of whisky. What proper library doesn’t have a bottle of whisky in it? 
Here is the waterfall. What proper lodge doesn’t have a waterfall?
Our African themed room. The shower was in a little closet on the right of the door.
The toilet and sink were to the left of the door. The Cabin was tiny!
Lunch was great.
Lentil soup.
Then fish.
Dessert was brownies and a peppery blond brownie.
Of course it was time for Steve to gear up and test the waters!
Here is a picture of Steve catching a fish on the West Branch of the Dolores River. Unfortunately I can’t figure out how to post a copy of an old video for you. This was just behind our cabin!
Did you not believe me? Of course he caught a fish!
Here are some pictures of the prep work for dinner. Gorgeous potatoes for roasting.
Also many different colored carrots.
We started with a beautiful grilled escarole salad with fruit to start our dinner.
Followed by grilled lamb chops. Our wine was from Sutcliffe Vineyards. Sutcliffe is located in Cortez, Colorado; the nearest large town .I think there was some kind of relationship between Sutcliffe and Dunton.
Our delicious dessert. Sweet Potato Pie with chocolate chile sauce and maple whipped cream.
No breakfast pictures today. Instead it’s straight to archery. I think this is where I really realized how bad my shoulders are. I couldn’t draw the bow back at all to shoot. I had fun watching though!
Then it was back to the lodge for lunch. Salad, salmon and wagyu sliders.
Dessert was Apple Brown Betty and lemon bars.
Then it was off for a ride with a male wrangler. All comments are kept to myself! Although I might add that he had a nice seat. Ha Ha!
We forded some streams.
Then on the way back we saw the yurts where you can have a massage in the middle of the meadow.
Caesar salad for a starter.
Then chicken for our entree.