Today was a day of extremes. Temperatures, landscape, weather, you name it we saw some big swings. The first extreme is that Theis is not writing the post today, Tom is. I hope you will forgive the change in prose and literary style. Although Theis did tell me he would censor this before it made it to print.
We started the day in Durango, CO at the corner of Highways 550 and 160. Heading east to Pagosa Springs, we swung south on Hwy 64 into New Mexico just to visit the state. We rode through Chama, NM and headed northeast from Chama on Rte 17 past the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic RR. A narrow gauge coal fired historic passenger train that toured the San Juan National Forest. Our first stop came in Antonito, CO where we met an extreme of living standard but where I encountered an excellent breakfast burrito. The terrain from Durango to Antonito was mainly the rolling hills and ridges of the San Juan NF, with lots of cattle ranches and RV parks, but as we left Antonito, the terrain suddenly changed to the long flat plain of the San Luis Valley.
Our next stop was San Luis, CO, the county seat of Costilla County and the oldest city in Colorado. Founded in 1851, it was not the first colony, but is the oldest surviving one. Although still surviving, it is by no means flourishing with 22% unemployment. But the valley is surrounded on all sides by some beautiful scenery. With the Culebra range to the East, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the north and the San Juan mountains to the west, the views are spectacular in all directions. But the ride out of San Luis up through Fort Garland on 159 and then west on 160 to Alamosa where we turned North on Rte 17 was flat and in straight lines. An extreme contrast to yesterdays twisty mountain roads. At one point on route 17, we rode north for 40 miles watching a thunderstorm drift east toward us. It was a nip and tuck, but we got around the storm with just a few miles of precipitation.
Route 17 turned into 285 and then into 24 as we made our way north into the Rockies. Up to this point the weather was co-operating and we had most of the day in the high 60’s and low 70’s, but a big dark cloud was up ahead. With every turn of the road, we seemed to be steering into the storm. We turned west on Route 82 heading toward the Independence Pass, a 12 thousand foot pass, and our first time above the tree line. As we turned onto 82, we decided to don the raingear. At first it appeared that we would miss the rain as we wound up the steep narrow climb to the top. But, at the top as we pulled out to get a quick photo of the summit, the rain started. We had to make our way down a steep narrow road at 40 degrees in rain and hail; some nerve racking riding. Apparently not as bad as the bicyclist I followed down the mountainside. As I rode, I could hear him yelping as the cold rain and hail left him shivering in his shorts and t-shirt.
But we finally wound our way down from Independence Pass into Aspen and stopped for fuel. We seem to be getting high mileage out here. The ride from Antonito to Aspen was about 260 miles and we took on 4 gallons of gas. At the gas station, the proprietor suggested we stop in Glenwood Springs where we could find some good accommodations for a reasonable price. The trip to Glenwood Springs was about 40 miles, and we passed some extremely high dollar properties, and the Aspen airport where there was an endless line of private jets. One took off as we rode by, probably winging some executive back to the east coast on Sunday evening in time to be in the office on Monday morning.
We made it to Glenwood in just about 450 miles from Durango and stopped at a nice local place called the Caravan Inn where the pool, restaurant (and beer) were welcome refreshments to end the day. A day where we saw extremes of temperature from 40 to 87 degrees; altitude from just over 6K to 12K feet; wealth from Antonito to Aspen; weather from bright sunshine to thunderstorms and hail; terrain from the rolling San Juan NF to the flat plain of the San Luis Valley to the jagged peaks of the Rockies and the Independence Pass. They call Denver the mile high city. I guess that was a better tag line than the “lowest spot in Colorado”.
Well, I expect Theis will return tomorrow.
Total miles: 464 Butt factor: 1
