South Fork provides visitors with abundant all-season activities from hunting and fishing to skiing, golf, horseback riding and wildlife viewing. Surrounded by nearly 2 million acres of national forest, limitless historical, cultural and recreational activities await visitors. Lodging is available in cabins, motels, RV parks and campgrounds. Our community also offers a unique restaurant selection, eclectic shops and galleries, and plenty of sporting and recreation suppliers. Breathtaking scenery and family-oriented adventure will captivate and draw you back, year after year.
Winter brings the “most snow in Colorado” to nearby Wolf Creek Ski Area. Snowmobilers, cross country skiers and snowshoers will find 255 miles of winter recreation trails, plus plenty of room to play. The area also offers ice fishing, skating and sledding.
Spring/Summer showcases South Fork as a base camp for a multitude of outdoor activities, events, sightseeing, history, culture, and relaxation.
Fall sees nature explode into color, as the dark green forest becomes splashed with shades of yellow, red, and orange. Hunters will delight in the crossroads of three hunting units that boast an abundance of trophy elk and deer.
Events offered by various organizations!
Nourish
I’m thrilled to announce NOURISH — just in time for a bright and optimistic new year! As an RN, health coach, and health writer, I’m delighted to start this twice-monthly women’s gathering in South Fork.
Our goal is to pursue rich and vibrant health together using trustworthy lifestyle tools and the fun camaraderie of women. Together we’ll unearth reliable health data and address foes like chronic illness, fatigue, and unmet health goals.
Our first gathering is one Jan. 13 and will be free to give everyone a taste of the fun and value of the group. Membership to NOURISH will begin in February. Please visit my website to join us! RSVP for the free gathering is highly recommended and appreciated. Simply email me directly at Sharleen@RNextdoor.com or through my RNextdoor website.
I’d love to hear from you and will respond personally!
SharleenThe RNextdoor
Weekly Skate Party
Join us for our weekly Skate Party at Rickel Park from 4pm to 8pm every Saturday night starting January 20th to March 16th. Come enjoy Bonfires, Skating, Sledding and Music. Loaner skates are provided.
Food, drinks, S’mores kits and more will be available to purchase.
Thank you to the following businesses that will be providing food and drinks for our evenings for purchase –
January 20, 2024 – The Rio Grande Club and Resort
January 27, 2024 – The Holy Grill
February 3, 2024 – South Fork Friends Foundation
February 10, 2024 – Ramons Mexican Restaurant
February 17, 2024 – Tiny Timbers Resort and Coffee Bistro
February 24, 2024 – South Fork Friends Foundation
March 2, 2024 – Rio Grande Club and Resort
March 9, 2024 – Steffens and Co Realty, INC
March 16, 2024 – Tiny Timbers Resort and Coffee Bistro
For more information, please email SouthernColoradoEventsSF@gmail.com.
South Fork Friends Foundation Arts and Crafts Festival
Wednesday, July 17th, 2024
9am to 4pm at the South Fork Visitors Center
Jewelry, pottery, metal art, skin care and so much more. Consider signing up to be a vendor and show off your unique talent!
Contact us at southforkfriendsfoundation@gmail.com
South Fork Logger Days
History of This Annual Event
You are surrounded by more than 2 million acres of forest. This mountain land has produced lumber since the 1870s, when the first loggers arrived — and the trees are still growing — a slow dance of green growth. The Annual Logger Days continues a festive tradition of making work skills fun! Loggers and their friends compete in contests to gage their skills as lumberjacks:
• Men, boys, and girls throw spinning hatchets at targets
• Axes and saws drop tall poles to exact spots on the ground
• Cheer along as noisy chain saws cut logs into precise pieces
• Hold your breath as climbers scurry up a 60 foot pole
Who Participates in Events? Experts at logging, milling, and forestry and Amateurs who want to experience the thrill!
Definitions:
LOGGERS: Woodsmen who use saws and axes to cut down trees, cut and trim them into logs, then move them to the roadside or the sawmill. They must be experts with horses (real or mechanical), saws, axes, poles, ropes, and especially good sense.
MILLERS: Machinery experts who shape logs into finished boards, posts, poles, flooring, railroad ties, and dozens of other products. Around a dozen portable mills were scattered throughout the forest, as well as the center of South Fork from the 1870s until 2001. In the 1950-60s, the South Fork mill was the biggest in the state of Colorado. Five small mills still hum in the San Luis Valley.
FORESTERS: Scientists who plan balanced use of federal, state, and private forests for long-term production of wood, water, wildlife, recreation, grazing, and wilderness. They work all over this area.
2024 date coming soon.
ALDER ASS RACE
Saturday, August 31, 2024
10am at Brown’s Park
“Alder” comes from the fact that the race course goes up the rugged Alder Creek trail, and “Ass” refers to the burros that will be racing along with their human companion runners.
A brief history of the donkeys that now run Pack Burro Races
Donkeys first arrived on US soil in 1784 as a royal gift from King Charles III of Spain to George Washington. The donkeys first worked the plantations, but by the 1800s, were helping to build the American West. They were used by miners during the Gold Rush era, but by the turn of the century, many of these hearty little donkeys were abandoned. The donkeys found ways to survive the most unforgiving, yet extreme terrains around the American West. Resilient, they can feed on desert vegetation. While herds of wild burros now face the same threats today as wild horses, they are also being rounded up and domesticated. After being gentled and trained, many who run their donkeys find that the running activities are quite therapeutic and offer a great outlet for rehabilitating once wild and/or feral donkeys.
“Burro” is the Spanish word for small donkey. However, many different sized donkeys from mini to mammoth can race in a Pack Burro Race and are interchangeably called “burro.” They only have chestnuts on the forelegs, while animals of the same equine family, such as mules (a hybrid cross between a donkey and horse) or horses, have these chestnuts on the hind and forelegs. The tail of a donkey has shorter hair, except on its lower part, which has a brush. Only a burro/donkey is allowed to run in a Pack Burro Race as we do nothing half-assed.
