Since the bikers encounter single track and places the support vehicle can't go in this area, they were on their own for 4 days.
The support vehicle went to Mesa Verde - Wow! That was well worth the detour! Too bad we didn't have more time so that the bikers could have gone along!
BETH writes of July 28th - after having a wonderful breakfast where the waitor thought I could never eat that much food, Mike and I were off to climb 4000+ft to the top of Indian Pass. 10 miles of rolling and 13 miles of steep to reach 11,940ft the highest both of us had been on a bike. The climb took us most of the day and some of it was incredibly hard, but I am proud to say I rode most of it. The view from the top was beautiful and ugly. In one direction you looked out across the 14,000ft Colorado mountains with their bare or grassy tops. In the other direction, the ugly-ness of human destruction the Summitville Superfund Site. Summitville was an old mining town that where iron ore, gold and silver were mined in the late 1800's. It is now a EPA Superfund site where you can not drink the water in any of the creeks for the next 30+ miles. From the top of Indian Pass we descended about 1,000 ft to Summitville, just to climb back out. By 6pm, 35 miles, and well over 5000ft of climbing Mike and I were beat, so we chose a nice primitive camping site with a wonderful view. After dinner, we watched a Owl hunt while the sun set and thunderstorms mover through to our east.
On July 29th Beth writes - Coyotes, Mule Deer and Elk woke early with us this morning. This was probably the most wildlife I had seen in one day. This morning we had a nice curvy downhill around these beautiful mountains whose rock was many different colors because of the Iron-oxide in the rock. The rivers and creeks in this area were naturally contaminated and are orange in color. After a 5 mile climb out of the valley we descended to Platoro. Platoro is a small town but has a huge lodge that offers vacationers fly fishing, hunting and horse pack trips. We stopped to have breakfast - YUM!!. The rest of the 38 miles today was spent descending through the valley, but the road was horrid! When we reached Elk Creek campground I felt like I had been beaten even with my full suspension bike. We met John today from Minnesota, who was traveling the divide by motorcycle. It was nice to discuss our travels and excitement over reaching the border. John had even met Mike Morse in Montana on Mike's last day of his Canada trip - small world. The campground had a great creek to bath and do laundry in. Since we had reached the campground early we got to relax - so I laid on rocks by the creek and read. I have such a rough life these days!
July 30th Beth writes - Today we would pay for all of our downhill. We started with a 8 mile climb over La Manga Pass at 10,800 ft - at least it was on pavement. After crossing the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, which takes tourists 82 miles one way curving back and forth between New Mexico and Colorado, we descended again into a valley. As we started to climb back out of the valley we noticed that we were being chased by a heard of cattle and their cowboys. The herd would take a short cut, but we would see them over the next 10 miles. Today was a big day! The last state border! Within 20 miles of today's ride, we entered Carson National Forest and New Mexico. Mike and I soon learned that New Mexico was not what we expected. For the last 11 miles of our 32 mile day was spent climbing steeply to the top of several grassy mesas. One section was very rocky and the map said un-rideable. Mike rode the whole thing! I walked - or pushed I should say. We also learned that New Mexico is the home of unforgiving roads. Finally reaching the campground we managed to get cold drinks off car campers and it was early to bed.
July 31st Beth writes - 35 miles to Hopewell Lake, Cold drinks and spagettii, because we would be meeting my Mom. We descended and climbed through similar grassy slopes and Aspen covered roads. Then we entered once again the high prairie of nothing except nasty roads. I have decided that my brain can not handle the ugly-ness of nothing but brown rolling hills. 10 miles later we were back to the trees thank goodness! After an endless climb we arrived at Hopewell Lake. We greeted my Mom and shared stories of our adventures over the last few days. After laundry and "showers" under the water pump, Mike showed Mom and I how to really play Cribbage - we took a beating! During the game we spotted 3 young male Elk in the field adjacent to our campsite. They did not really care about us, so it was fun to watch them for awhile.
No comments:
Post a Comment