Arrival and Departure Schedule:
We ask that you arrive early enough Thursday afternoon so that you can locate and set up your camp site and be ready to join in the opening circle at 2:30. Then you will make your initial solo sojourn into the woods to get acquainted, returning for our first shared meal around 5:00. Closing on Sunday will be after lunch, around 1:30.
Dragonback Springs Retreat Center
(Owned and tended by Raymond Hillis and Monika Wikman)
The Center is tucked into a remote wilderness area bordering the Rio Grande National Forest south of Monarch Pass and about 40 minutes from Saguache, Colorado. Pristine seclusion and solitude abound. Forested with aspen, lodge pole and ponderosa pines, the Center is visited by elk, deer, lynx, coyote, fox, porcupine, and other wild animals. June is a warm month at the Center, and precedes the summer monsoonal rains. Daytime temperatures will likely be in the 60s and 70s, evenings in the 40s.
The center has an old farmhouse with kitchen, bathroom/shower, and meeting rooms. We will gather for Jeff's presentations in the farmhouse meeting room. Each evening, after dinner and an outdoor fire, participants will retire to their tents to sleep. Self selected camping areas near ponds, springs and stream abound, in the trees or under the stars, close to the farmhouse or further into the wilderness as you choose. We have found this place to be very camper friendly. And the setting and experiences in nature add immeasurably to the work with the imagination.
If you choose to drive daily in and out for the retreat, the closest lodging is an hour away down dirt roads and remote highways. Susannah can email you information regarding this option.
Two small and 'very' primitive shelters exist. "Log cabins," while true, is a stretch - they are very old from the 1920s and in major need of restoration. They 'may' be more usable by the time of the retreat and could provide a shared roof if one wishes not to sleep outdoors. If you wish to explore using one of these contact Ray in May to see if they will be in useable condition. This would most likely be "bunkhouse" use unless no one else is interested. These would require bringing a pad and sleeping bag. They are not heated.
Closest airports: Gunnison Colorado and Alamosa Colorado, each one and a half hours away, or Colorado Springs, three hours away. Drive time from Santa Fe or Denver is 4 hours, and from Albuquerque is 5 hours.
