The Piedra River Trail

Over Father's Day weekend, my wife, her father, and I traveled to Pagosa Springs to take a hike that none of us had ever heard of. It seems to me that sometimes the road less traveled is often the road most worth taking! We ventured to the Piedra River Trail to the north of Pagosa Springs, and it was most definitely worth the journey! After wandering around off highway 160, we came to Piedra road and traveled north on a road that was quite the opposite of smooth. However, once the drive was complete, we were rewarded by the gem that is the trailhead of the Piedra River trail.

When we started up the trail, we veered to the right and followed a well marked trail which led to a beautiful overlook of the trail beneath us and the valley below. We came to find out after taking in the breath taking views that we had actually hiked the "wrong" path, and had reached a dead end at the cliff's edge. The views from our vantage point were well worth the strenuous hike to the top. It became clear that the road less traveled by the numerous hiker before us had led us to some of the best views any of us had ever seen! We snapped some quick photos, and then went back down to the path that the majority of the hikers had gone down before us.

Even though the second path we took was more engaging and easier to traverse, the reward we received after reaching a stopping point was less satisfying, albeit beautiful.We found, like most things in life, the more difficult the journey, the most gratifying the reward received.